Konoha no Gogyou Tokage
by Yukihana Hisako
Summary: UP FOR ADOPTION
1. Where it all Began

Summary :(Title means Konoha's Five-Element Lizard) Uzumaki Suzume is discovered by Maito Gai soon after the Wave Arc. The taijutsu master takes her under his wing to learn the art of hand-to-hand combat. Watch as she becomes a legend surpassing all those before her, The Eki Sennin, lizard summoner, Suzume no Byakugan, and the Gogyou, master of manipulating all five elements. Following her path, she will become Konoha no Gogyou Tokage. This is the ultimate tale of ass-kicking, cussing, and chakra! Fem!Naru, Super!Naru, AU, OOC, Team 7 bashing.

On a side note, Uzumaki Suzume means "Whirlpool Sparrow"

This is a story that's been sitting in my head for a while. Those of you who wanted another Mokuton chapter, don't worry, that will come out soon.

I do not own Naruto. If I did, Naruto would be a girl and Sasuke would have never left.

Where it all began

Konoha no Gogyou Tokage

Suzume fought the tears out of her blue eyes as she threw kunai after kunai at the target with increasing intensity.

_You're worthless! You'll never be as good as me or Sasuke-kun!_

_Dobe. You're pathetic. The only reason Sakura can't beat you is because of Kage Bunshin. You're just a waste of space._

_Demon!_

_Monster!_

_Just go die!_

_Kill yourself as save us the trouble!_

Twelve years of loneliness and pain generally leads to a large amount of emotional baggage, that's for sure.

The jinchuuriki collapsed to the ground, sobbing

'Worthless…I'm not good enough…'

* * *

Maito Gai was a person of many faces.

While most people only looked as far as the green jumpsuit and bushy eyebrows, he was different beneath his slightly psychotic exterior. Like many jounin, he had developed his own quirks. Jounin who had fought in the Iwa-Konoha war eventually developed their own oddities/ addictions to throw the enemy off balance. For example, Kakashi had taken to reading smut, Asuma had started smoking, and so on. Gai was just another in the long list of oddities.

Underneath his act, the war had taken a toll on him. Most of his family had been killed after all, similarly to Hatake Kakashi.

But, unlike his eternal rival, Maito Gai had managed to move on.

And that made all the difference.

* * *

The above-mentioned jounin was out for a stroll (well, jog really..) within the village when he heard the faint sound of crying. Within the village of Konoha, a rather cheerful place, the sound was unusual. Gai normally would have ignored it, but the sound was coming from where he was going, so the Green Beast decided to check it out.

When he got to the source, he was surprised to see a kunoichi; probably a genin – with bright yellow hair done up in two pigtails. She wore a simple orange t-shirt and black pants. Her hitai-ate was tied around her forehead.

'It's the jinchuuriki…Uzumaki Suzume..'

Unlike most of the village, Gai did note hate the Uzumaki. He simply didn't know the girl from personal experience. The taijutsu master wasn't exactly somebody who would just leave a girl crying, so he decided to talk to her for a little bit.

"Hello. Uzumaki-san, right? What unyouthfullness has made you cry so?"

The blonde's head jerked up at the voice. She wiped her eyes of tears and looked up curiously at the older shinobi. Suzume could sense no ill intent from the man, so she might as well speak with him.

Suzume gave a weak smile before speaking. "I was training to improve my aim…My mind wandered to unpleasant things….ano…"

"Maito Gai."

"Maito-san, then."

"Well, why aren't you training with your team?"

Suzume suddenly found her shoes very interesting. "My team doesn't like me very much.."

Gai raised a bushy brow in curiosity.

Seeing this, the kunoichi continued. "Well, I'm really worthless on my team. I mean, my male teammate is a ninjutsu specialist, like sensei. My other teammate, a girl, is really good at genjutsu. I wanted to specialize in taijutsu, until I found out that kunoichi don't have the strength to do that. After that, I wanted to learn ninjutsu, because I hate genjutsu. But sensei kept going off to train my teammates, saying that I had to have better chakra control before I could learn anything. I'm doing the best I can, but I just don't know what to do anymore."

Gai's eyes narrowed. 'Whoever this girl's sensei is, they're basically telling her that she's just a failure. The fact that she's even trying after that is impressive.'

The Green Beast thought for a moment before speaking. "You know, just because you are female doesn't mean you can't specialize in taijutsu. How about this, you meet me here after team practice every day. If, at the end of the week, you decide to continue with taijutsu, I'll introduce you to my team, alright?"

Suzume mulled over the proposition. "Thank you for this chance…Gai-sensei!"

* * *

Suzume jogged happily into training ground 10, the place she had met Gai yesterday.

The blonde was greeted with the sight the taijutsu master doing push-ups….with his thumbs.

Suzume blinked. "Umm…Gai-sensei…"

At the sound of the blonde's voice, Gai stood up. "Welcome, my student, to the youthfulness that is taijutsu!"

Suzume translated that to "Let's get started, shall we?", and nodded. "Sure!"

"First thing: Weights! Follow me, my youthful student!"

After Suzume got 15 pounds of metal strapped onto each of her limbs, the pair traveled to another training ground, where Gai began to speak.

"While normally it would be useless to teach a kunoichi the Goken, as you pointed out earlier, you are much stronger then most of your peers. The fact that you are walking around normally wearing 60 pounds is proof of that. So, be prepared for your training."

* * *

Maito Gai's training was hell. While it defiantly had good results, Suzume was exhausted at the end of every day. The blonde now had a basic grasp on the Goken, and it was defiantly easier for her to understand then ninjutsu or genjutsu.

Today was the day that she was going to meet Team 9. Suzume had left a shadow clone with team 7, so she would be fine there.

When the jinchuuriki looked up again, she found herself at her destination. The blonde sighed, and entered the clearing. Once there, she saw a Hyuuga branch member, a girl with a Chinese style shirt, a mini Gai-clone, and the Green Beast himself.

The girl was the first to speak. "You're the girl Gai-sensei told us about, right? Uzumaki Suzume."

"Yeah."

"Well, then introduce yourself!"

Suzume shifted uncomfortably. "Well, as you know, I'm Uzumaki Suzume. I like ramen, friends and training. I dislike stuck-up pricks, lazy assholes, and fangirls. My hobbies are training, pranks, and eating ramen. My dream is to become a powerful kunoichi, and Hokage!"

"Yosh! Suzume-san's flames of youth burn brightly!" Lee exclaimed.

Said kunoichi felt a bead of sweat slide down her head. "Umm…Thanks…"

"My name is Rock Lee! I like green, taijutsu, Gai-sensei, and flames of youth! I dislike arrogance and geniuses! My hobby is training with Gai-sensei! My dream is to prove that you can become a most splendid shinobi, even without gen- or ninjutsu!"

"I'll go next." The Hyuuga said, cutting off Lee's rant.

"I am Hyuuga Neji. I like training. I dislike a certain practice in my clan and the fact that my father is dead. My hobby is meditation. My dream is to desegregate the Hyuuga."

(In this fic, Neji knew all along that his father had sacrificed himself willingly.)

The bun girl smiled before speaking. "Hello! I'm Ryuusei TenTen. I like sharp objects. I dislike weakness and fangirls. My hobby is fortune telling. My dream is to become a shinobi as strong as Tsunade-sama!"

Suzume felt her mouth curl up into a smile. She like the optimistic kunoichi already.

"Alright, my youthful students! I have gotten permission from Hokage-same to take Suzume-san with us on all of our missions C-rank or higher! May our flames of youth burn brightly and never diminish!"

"Yosh! Gai-sensei!" Lee shouted, getting up and hugging his teacher, while Gai hugged back.

A background of a sunset and crashing waves appeared.

"Gai-sensei!"

"Lee!"

"Gai-sensei!"

"Lee!"

"Gai-sens-!"

"BOTH OF YOU, SHUT THE HELL UP!!" TenTen shouted. "Good grief!

Neji, at the moment, was covering his eyes with both hands, and was only now daring to peek through his fingers.

Yep, a normal day for Team Gai.


	2. Training

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. If I did, Haku would be alive.

I was actually worried that my first chapter wouldn't be strong enough. It seems that it wasn't as bad as I thought it was.

This chapter is mostly just filler. It is made up of several flashbacks that fill in training time. It is also extremely, extremely, long.

The explanation for each element is from Narutopedia. I added some of my own stuff to it, however.

I will make this very clear. I HATE SASUNARU!!!!!!!!! That pairing will never, ever happen in ANY of my fics. If that's what you're looking for, go somewhere far, far away from me.

On the other hand, I will accept Suzume with any other male. Sorry, but no Yuri this time. Send your votes in through reviews please; I'm having problems with my profile at the moment.

Training

Konoha no Gogyou Tokage

The next three months were heaven and hell at the same time for Suzume. Heaven because Team Gai accepted her, and that was something the Uzumaki had little experience with, but hell because of the….interesting…training schedule Gai and Lee used. Suzume had become another of Lee's rivals because of her ability to soak up any sort of taijutsu like a sponge. The blonde had also made several interesting discoveries in her own time.

_FLASHBACK 1_

_It was during a simple jan-ken-po match with Lee when Suzume learned of the benefits of kage bunshin. The jinchuuriki had substituted a kage bunshin for her real body so that she could go train while Lee would battle her clone._

_She was in the middle of throwing a right hook at the training log when she thought 'Huh. So I won the match again…Wait a second! How did I know that?!' she wondered._

_Later, when she asked Gai, the jounin told her that all of the shadow clone's experiences would be transferred back to the creator._

_Suzume chuckled evilly when she thought of all the things she could do with the new ability she had discovered._

_FLASHBACK 1 KAI!_

_FLASHBACK 2 _

_Gai was standing in front of Suzume, holding a piece of paper. _

"_This is a special type of paper. It will tell you what element you have an affinity for when you channel your chakra into it. If it's wind, the paper will be cut in half. Earth, it will crumble. Fire, it will burn. Lighting, it will crinkle. Water, it will get wet. Go ahead, try it."_

_Suzume shrugged and channeled her chakra into the unassuming piece of paper. Around the edges there was a slight crinkle, but the paper crumbled soon after._

_Gai nodded. "It looks like you have both an earth affinity and a lightning affinity. How youthful! I will get you some ninjutsu scroll tomorrow, my youthful student!" he exclaimed, giving his 'good guy' pose._

_True to his word, the next day the Green Beast brought two ninjutsu._

_One of them was Doton: Retsudo Tensho (Earth Release: Tearing Earth Turning Palm) a C-rank jutsu that caused the land around the victim to spiral inwards, crushing them._

_The second was Raiton: Gian (Lightning Release: False Darkness) a B-rank jutsu that formed a spear of lightning, to be shot from an open palm._

_Suzume had taken both jutsu scrolls and created a mass of shadow clones to learn the jutsus faster. It had only taken a few hours for her to be able to perform them perfectly._

_When she was done mastering the techniques, she wondered about the way they were preformed. 'These jutsu are performed by putting chakra into the hand seals, but would it be possible to do it without hand seals? It would take a high degree of chakra control, but with enough practice it might be possible. I'll have to go to the library and look it up.'_

_Suzume groaned; she hated the library, mostly because reading involved sitting still, something she sucked at._

_The next day she entered the library and found a book that was titled "Elemental Manipulation for Dummies" The jinchuuriki had picked it up, flipping to the introduction. The introduction gave the basics of each element._

Lightning Release techniques are fast-moving and cause not only electrical but piercing damage as well. Common to the ninja of Kumogakure, and often affiliated with the Hare hand seal, a Lightning Release jutsu is naturally strong against an earth jutsu, and weak against wind. Similar to wind chakra, lightning is commonly infused into bladed weapons through chakra flow for increased sharpness through vibrations, with the added effect of inducing numbness. Lightning Release mastery is achieved by crinkling a leaf and then spreading lighting throughout a lake.

The Earth Release areas of nature manipulation are techniques that allow the user to manipulate the surrounding earth for offensive and defensive purposes. Additionally, earth chakra is extremely useful for supplementary jutsu from how it allows the user to travel through ground and rock in various ways. Also, if manipulated while in its pure form it can strengthen objects to an impossible level. Commonly affiliated with the Snake seal, Earth Release techniques have the ability to change the hardness and composition of the earth from being as hard as metal to as soft as clay using these techniques. The user is also capable of releasing earth from their body, rather than manipulating preexisting earth, as shown with the Third Hokage. Earth Release affinities are the most common among the ninja of Iwagakure. Earth Release is naturally strong against water but likewise, Earth Release is also naturally weak against lightning. Perfect usage of Earth Manipulation is achieved by causing a leaf to crumble and then forming a wall projecting from the ground.

The Water Release area of elemental nature manipulation are techniques that allow the user not only to manipulate but (in the case of a master) generate water as well. Possibly the most versatile of the five basic chakra natures, Water Release techniques can not only change shape but form as well. The affinity for Water Release is common to shinobi of Kirigakure. Water Release will naturally extinguish fire (though a sufficiently powerful technique can cause evaporation) but will naturally be overcome by earth. It is also generally associated with flowing movements. When Water Release techniques are combined with Wind Release techniques, the concussive and overall destructive power is vastly increased. Also Water Release is efficient in combination with Lightning Release, increasing the flow of electricity into the target, because of the increased conductivity; causing more damage at a faster rate. Mastery over water manipulation is achieved by soaking a leaf with water release and then gathering nearby water vapor and forming it into a ball.

The Fire Release area of elemental manipulation are offensive-type techniques that allow the user to create fire by increasing the temperature of their chakra. Commonly affiliated with the Tiger hand seal, Fire Release techniques are mid-to-long-ranged that cause burning and explosive damage. Fire Release Ninjutsu is common among Konohagakure ninja with the Uchiha Clan being once known to be especially proficient with its use. Fire Release is strong against wind; because wind naturally feeds fire but weak against water due to its ability to extinguish the flames. When used in either a combination or a fusion, a Fire Release technique augmented by wind can be strong enough to evaporate its natural weakness of water. Fire manipulation is achieved by first burning a leaf and then causing fire to shoot out of your mouth.

The Wind Release area of elemental manipulation are offensive-type techniques that allow the user to manipulate wind by shaping their chakra to be as sharp and as thin as possible, very much like the blades of a pair of scissors. The rarest of the five basic elemental chakra natures (though the affinity appears to be common among ninja of Sunagakure), Wind Release techniques are suited for short-to-mid-range combat, and combine brute force and precision to deal cutting and slashing damage. Users can even channel wind-natured chakra into blades to increase their range and cutting power. Wind Release manipulation is achieved by learning how to split a leaf in two with chakra and then learning to halt the flow of water. Wind Release is naturally strong against Lightning Release techniques, and likewise naturally weak against Fire Release techniques. In the case of a combination, it augments the strength of a Fire Release technique as well as increases the concussive power of a Water Release technique.

*Note that all exercises must be done without hand seals.

_Suzume had left one of her kage bunshin behind to read the book while she went to training with Team 7. While she didn't want to do it, there was a chance that she might learn something. Also, she really just wanted to be acknowledged as something more than a waste of space. While her team might not recorperate the feeling, they were some of Suzume's precious people._

_By the time team training was done, her clone had finished reading the book and dispelled itself. The Uzumaki learned of the many uses of elemental chakra._

'_It's amazing how versatile chakra nature is.' She mused. 'If you have full control over elemental chakra, you could form a wall of earth or flood a lake with electricity without any hand seals…the possibilities are endless. Flame shooting out of your hands…'_

_As Suzume mulled over her discovery, a part of her brain continued to work on the concept of manipulating the elements in a similar way to the "flame-shooting" idea._

_That's when she came up with an idea that would change the Elemental Nations._

'_Kami! I could manipulate the elements into taijutsu! With earth I could get super-human strength, and with lightning I could bend it around my body…the possibilities are endless!' she realized._

_Immediately she put her hands into a familiar "+" shape._

"_Tajuu Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" she called out, creating several hundred clones. "Alright! Half of you work on earth, the other half lightning! Get to it!"_

_The bunshin nodded their collective assent and spread out to do as she told._

_A month later, after several long hours of work and thousands of kage bunshin, she finally had a good grip on earth and lightning manipulation._

_Suzume worked on infusing the right amount of earth elemental chakra into her limbs to achieve the affect she wanted, which was super strength on the level of Tsunade._

_After several days of hard work, she had managed to get what she had been looking for. Now, with a simple finger flick, she could send somebody flying. The blonde was extremely tempted to use this technique on Sasuke, but decided against it later._

_At the moment, Suzume was in a bad mood because her practice had pretty much destroyed her usual training grounds. She needed something larger, preferably with living, huge, animals that she could fight. The perfect training ground was the infamous "Forest of Death" itself. The blonde made her way over to training ground 44, her decision made._

_Once inside the forest, the Uzumaki searched for a clearing. She found one after several minutes, and began her kata, applying earth-natured chakra to her limbs as she did them._

* * *

_Anko swore under her breath after the chuunin was done speaking. 'Kami. A minor fox youkai in the Forest of Death?! That isn't good. I should be able to get rid of it…' she thought. _

"_Alright." The Snake Mistress said to the (completely irrelevant) chuunin. "Tell Hokage-sama I'll take care of it."_

_The chuunin nodded before disappearing in a puff of smoke. _

_Anko sighed. "Damn." She muttered. "There goes my day off."_

* * *

_Suzume whirled around as she sensed a large chakra stalk into her training area. Her cerulean eyes widened when she saw the source of the chakra, a blue fox that had to be the size of a small house._

"_Shit." She said._

_Fixing her down with one yellow eye, the fox charged. _

_Suzume swore again before leaping over the youkai, landing neatly behind it. The demon swung its tail, almost knocking the Uzumaki's head off. Luckily, the blonde had rolled out of the way just in time._

'_Enough of this dodging crap.' She thought. 'Looks like it's time to try out my strength-enhanced taijutsu.'_

_The blue fox had turned around by this time. Suzume rushed forward and snapped her right leg up, hitting the youkai right on the jaw._

"_Konoha Shofu!" (Leaf Rising Wind)_

_The fox went flying upwards. Suzume leaped up to the demon's height and smashed her left fist into his snout, shattering the bone for several feet._

_The yellow-eyed monster snarled viciously at the blonde. The jinchuuriki just smirked back before punching the fox again, this time in the eye. Blood spurted out from the wound. Suzume had burst the eyeball. _

_The fighters fell to the ground. The fox batted at its empty eye socket before roaring and charging again. The blonde's eyes narrowed before she leaped into the air, flipped over once, and delivered and ax kick to the youkai, shattering its skull, killing it immeadiatly._

"_Tsutenkyaku!" (Painful Sky Leg)_

* * *

_Anko watched in grudging awe as the blonde girl finished off the fox with a flying ax kick._

'_I haven't seen that kind of strength since Tsunade-sama!' the Snake Mistress thought. 'And she looks like she's only 12 or 13…to have such strength at such a young age is amazing!'_

_The purple-haired shinobi stepped into the clearing, bent on discovering how the blonde kunoichi had enhanced her strength to such a level._

* * *

_Suzume looked up when she heard the crunching of leaves, signifying a visitor. When she noticed the leaf hitai-ate, she relaxed._

"_Thanks for getting rid of the youkai, brat." The older kunoichi said. "The name's Anko, by the way. Mitiraishi Anko."_

_The blonde nodded. "You're quite welcome, Mitiraishi-san. My name is Uzumaki Suzume." _

_Anko pulled a dango stick from nowhere and started chomping down on it. "So." The Snake Mistress said between mouthfuls, "How did you enhance your strength to such a level?"_

_Suzume shrugged. "Earth chakra."_

_The older kunoichi cocked an eyebrow. "What do you mean?" she asked._

_The blonde replied after a moment. "By pushing elementally recomposed chakra into my limbs, I can achieve the super human strength you just saw."_

_Anko's eyebrow's disappeared beneath her bangs. "Elemental recompistion?! That's a jounin-level technique!"_

_The blonde's eyes widened in surprise. "I had no idea…" she murmured._

_The purple-haired kunoichi sighed. "So, how did you get so good at it at such an age? Normally, perfecting one element takes over a year for an average jounin. Not to mention, I've never heard of any shinobi that has the ability to use elemental chakra in taijutsu like you just did. "_

"_Shadow clones. Lots of shadow clones." The blonde replied._

_Anko nodded sagely. "That makes sense."_

* * *

_The two kunoichi had been wandering around tow, chatting amiably, when Anko thought of something._

"_You know, you said sometime earlier that you wanted to get to the point where you could manipulate all the elements into your taijutsu. You also said that you had mastered lightning, right? So why don't you just manipulate lightning into your Goken?"_

_Suzume sighed before replying. "I tried for a little bit, but it felt odd…I guess uncomfortable would be the best way to describe it. I did some research on the subject later and I found out that each element is actually affiliated with different movements. Earth Release fits perfectly with the Goken, but lightning and the others need a different taijutsu style."_

_The Snake Mistress nodded slowly in understanding. "I see. So what movements go with the other elements?"_

_The blonde replied automatically, speaking from memory. "Lighting goes with speed, accuracy, and piercing movement. Water with flowing movements, as well as turning defense into offence. Fire is offensive and unpredictable. Wind goes with speed, accuracy, and slicing movements."_

_The Mitiraishi nodded again. "That's interesting. You know, I might be able to help you with Lightning Release taijutsu. My personal taijutsu style, the Hebi no Mai (Dance of the Snake) is actually based completely off of those three principles you listed. Even better, I used elements of my old…sensei's…taijutsu style, which makes it almost impossible to predict with the Sharingan and it's made especially for kunoichi. I'd be willing to teach it to you. It would prove to be a good investment, I think."_

_Suzume stopped, staring and the purple-haired kunoichi in surprise. "You'd be willing to do that?" the blonde said in a near-whisper voice. "You'd really do that for me?"_

_Anko chuckled. "Look brat, I don't normally compliment people, but trust me, what I'm about to say is completely true. You have a lot of potential. Even with shadow clones, mastering elemental recompistion and the Goken to the level you have is a near-impossible feat. I think, in the future, you will become a valuable asset to Konohagakure. I would be grudgingly honored to teach a kunoichi with such talent."_

_The blonde stared at her shoes, blushing._

"_Alright brat, be ready for hell."_

"_Sure thing, Anko-sensei!"_

* * *

_Later that evening, Anko dragged her new student to her favorite dango restaurant. Seeing Ibiki at a table, the Snake Mistress told the waiter to let them sit with him. Shrugging, the boy had done as she asked._

_The interrogator raised an eyebrow in Suzume's direction, questioning the older kunoichi._

_Anko shrugged. "She's an interesting brat I picked up."_

_Ibiki sighed. "What's her name, and why?"_

"_Uzumaki Suzume. I found her using earth-natured elemental recompistion."_

_The Morino choked on his drink._

"_Yeah, that was pretty much my reaction too." Anko said._

_Ibiki shook his head and ordered some sake._

* * *

_It took another month of hard work and thousands of shadow clones to get the Mai no Hebi down. Anko was amazed at the Uzumaki's speed of learning the style, noting once or twice on Suzume's similarity to a sponge. _

_Even after the blonde had finished her training with the Snake Mistress, the two hung out together sometimes. Anko would never admit it, of course._

* * *

_During that month, another very important thing happened. When Suzume picked up a book titled simply "Earth Elemental Recompistion" and flipped through it, a small scrap of paper fell out. Curious, the blonde had picked it up and read it._

It should be noted that if one does not have a contract for any animal, yet performs the Kuchiyose no Jutsu, that person will be transported to the realm of the animal they have a natural affinity for.

_Curious, the jinchuuriki had put back her book on elemental chakra and pulled out another one titled "Kuchiyose: A List"_

_Suzume read the introduction first._

Ninpou: Kuchiyose no Jutsu is a time/space technique. It uses a contract signed in blood to summon an animal, (whose species depends on the contract signed) the size of which depends on the amount of chakra used. These creatures can be used to aid oneself in battle. By giving an offering of blood and performing the correct hand seals, a person can summon an animal.

'_Short, sweet, and to the point. I like it!' the blonde thought. _

'_So, according to this, summons are animal allies that can be used in battle. I imagine they could be used for other things as well. Kakashi-sensei's dogs, for one, could be used to track people. Summoning would be a very useful ability, and would allow me to take on large opponents. If I ever ran into a youkai again, for example.'_

_Suzume mulled over this for a few minutes before she decided on a course of action._

'_Alright.' She thought, 'If I perform the Kuchiyose no Jutsu now, I should be transported to the creature that I am naturally aligned with. I think that's a good thing.'_

_The blonde shrugged. 'I guess I won't know if I don't try.'_

_Stepping outside, the Uzumaki flipped through the seals illustrated in the book. Placing her palm on the ground, she molded her chakra. A second later, she disappeared in a puff of smoke._

* * *

_Suzume blinked to clear the spots from her vision as she observed her surroundings. The kunoichi was in a small, warm valley surrounded by several mountains. Many tall, large, brightly-colored flowers dotted the landscape. About a mile or so away, the blonde spotted a temple-like tower next to a waterfall. Having nothing better to do, she began to jog towards it._

_Halfway there, the Uzumaki stopped dead in her tracks when she spotted a human-sized, emerald-colored, purple-eyed lizard. The lizard cocked its head at Suzume, observing the human._

_A second later, she (judging from its voice) spoke. "Hello, human. My name is Azami. I haven't ever seen a human here before. What is your name?"_

"_It's Uzumaki Suzume, Azami-san…"_

_Azami nodded. "I see. Tell me, how did you get here, Suzume-san?"_

"_I preformed the Kuchiyose no Jutsu…."_

_The lizard nodded a second time. "I understand. Please, follow me."_

* * *

_Suzume followed the lizard as she had requested to the tower she had noticed earlier. Seeing no lizards about, the blond asked Azami why._

"_It is about noon, the warmest time of the day. Right now, most lizards are sunbathing on the rocks of the mountain." The lizard replied._

_Walking up to the huge temple, Azami stopped just in front of the gates. Raising her voice, the lizard shouted, "FATHER! THERE'S A HUMAN HERE BECAUSE THEY USED KUCHIYOSE!!!"_

_The ground trembled slightly as a huge black lizard with a white streak down its snout appeared. He wore a white robe with the kanji for 'sword fight' in black. The lizard also carried a huge katana strapped across his back. His eyes were the green of Azami's scales._

_The lizard lowered its head to Suzume's level. "Hello little one. My name is Minoru. What is yours?"_

_Suzume gaped for a few minutes before replying. "…It is Uzumaki Suzume, Minoru-sama." She said, guessing correctly that this black lizard was the leader of this realm._

_Minoru let out a deep rumble that was his way of chuckling. "You do have respect, and politeness. That is something rare in youngsters these days."_

_The boss lizard stood up again before continuing. "I know the way your Kuchiyose works. If you do not have a contract, you will be transported to the creature you have an affinity for. The lizard clan has not had a summoner in nigh 60 or 70 years. I will accept you as my summoner after you tell me a little bit about yourself."_

_The jinchuuriki nodded in acceptance. "I am a genin of Konoha. My favorite colors are black and white. My birthday is October the Tenth. I have the Kyuubi no Kitsune sealed inside of me. I specialize in taijutsu and elemental recompistion. I have learned a large amount of the Goken and most of the Mai no Hebi. I can manipulate earth chakra so that I can achieve super human strength, as well as lightning chakra, with which I can use my whole body and my surroundings as a conductor. My nindou is to never give up. My dream is to become a strong and proud kunoichi of Konohagakure and to protect my nakama."_

_Minoru spoke again. "A jinchuuriki? That's interesting. Anyways, in general lizards are calm and polite. However, all of us love a good fight." Turning to his daughter, he said "Azami, would you please go get Hideaki? Tell him we have a new summoner."_

_The younger lizard nodded. "Yes father." She said before disappearing into the landscape._

_Suzume blinked in surprise. 'I thought he would have made a bigger deal out of the fact that I'm a vessel. Oh well, I'm not exactly going to complain.'_

_Twenty minutes later, Azami returned with a brown lizard scarred from battle and wearing light armor in the form of a helmet, leg guards, and chest armor. _

"_Yo." He said. "I'm Hideaki, if you don't know that already. Don't bother with the suffixes, they just annoy me. I'm the armorer of the lizards. I'll be getting you some stuff, so just follow me."_

_Suzume shrugged and did as Hideaki requested._

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_The jinchuuriki had followed the lizard into the tower. Hideaki had entered the second door she saw. Inside was a full smithy with armor and weapons in all shapes and sizes. The lizard had walked to the back of the room, where a vault the size of a room was built into the wall. As he opened the lock, the armorer began to speak._

"_Like Minoru probably told you, most of us lizards love a good fight. I just make the weapons and the armor that we fight with. I take great pride in my work. My goal is to become as good as Arashi-sama, the first lizard weapons smith."_

_Hideaki opened the vault to reveal a pedestal that held two objects. The first one, lower down, was a sheathed katana. The sheath was white and plain, the only decoration being in the form of a black cord knotted around the base. The tsuba (guard) was made of silver metal and had an engraving of a lizard encircling it._

"_Can I look at it Hideaki?" Suzume asked._

_The armorer chuckled. "Of course. That sword is only ever used by lizard summoners. Even though it has been around for almost two hundred years, it was made in such a way that it will never dull or rust. Arashi-sama made it. He was a seal-master too, you see. He wrote special seals on it. The sword is a chakra saber. That means when you swing it, colored chakra will come out, which damages the enemy alongside the normal blade. The color of chakra is different for each person. According to tradition, each time it is passed on, it should be renamed as a sign of a new beginning. Go ahead, swing it."_

_The jinchuuriki picked up the sword reverently. The history of the sword was almost tangible. The Uzumaki slid it slowly out of the sheath, admiring the blue ripples that made their way across the blade. Spending most of her free time around Team Gai, she had to pick up a few things, and how tell a good sword from a bad one was one of them. She could already tell that this katana was of exceptional quality._

_Once it was fully unsheathed, she gave it an experimental swing. A beam of pure black chakra flowed from the blade, forming a simple, yet beautiful, arc._

_Done with experimentation, Suzume held the blade flat on the palms of her hands. Looking down on the sword, the perfect name came to her._

"_From this day on…While the sword of the Lizard Summoners is still in my hands…It shall be known as….Kurohoshi."_

_Hideaki nodded. "Black Star? I like it."_

_Sheathing Kurohoshi, Suzume looked back up at the stands, to get a closer look at the object she had seen earlier. It was a hitai-ate, but unlike her Konoha hitai-ate, it had the kanji "Kuraitoru" (scale) engraved into it. Besides that, it was completely normal, a steel plate on a white cloth. Frowning, she turned to Hideaki. "What's that?" she asked._

_Hideaki's mouth twitched up into a smile. "That, my dear Suzume, is our symbol."_

_Seeing the blonde's lack of understanding, he continued. "That kanji is the symbol of Shikoku Valley. It is only ever given to a human with the ability to summon our kind. A kind of identification, if you will."_

"_Ah. I see." She responded. Not sure how to breach the subject she was thinking of, Suzume began nervously. "Ano…I don't know how to use a katana…"_

_Hideaki snorted. "Of course you don't. Do you really think I'm just going to let you go without giving you any kind of instruction? I'll use a reverse summoning on you at 4:00 pm every day. You'll be with me until 8, when you can go home. I'll bring dinner too."_

_The blonde nodded in relief. "That's good."_

_The armorer smiled. "Come look at the stuff in the shop. There might be some stuff you want."_

* * *

_After going through the armory, Suzume had picked out shin guards, arm guards, a pair of black metal hoop earrings and a pair of diamond studs. The diamond earrings would slowly siphon off her chakra and store it in the jewel. By using a simple snake hand seal, the blonde would have access to all the stored chakra. The metal hoop earrings actually had tiny storage seals written into them. The jinchuuriki decided she would store her katana in the right one and medicine in the left._

'_After all,' she thought grimly, 'a small amount of medicine could save somebody's life.'_

_Hideaki pierced both of her ears in quick succession, placing the earrings in them._

_Looking down at her shirt and pants, she realized something else._

'_I'm going to have to go shopping in a few months.'_

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That was looooooooooooooooooooooong.


	3. Wait, Byakugan!

I do not own Naruto, as always.

I like this chapter. Dunno why, I just do.

Anyway, for the pairings poll, I've already got votes!!

Itachi: 1

Neji: 2

Kyuubi: 1

Yamato: 1

Lee: 1

Remember, if the guy you want isn't up here already, put it in anyway. I'm accepting any guy with Suzume except for Sasuke.

Yukihana: Hell yeah! Emo Queen needs to go to hell

Hisako: Not really…but SasuNaru pairings suck.

Wait…Byakugan?!

Konoha no Gogyou Tokage

Team Gai plus Uzumaki Suzume was on a B-rank mission to get rid of a bandit camp. It was supposed to be simple, and it was, originally. Once they got to the center of the camp, the trouble started.

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Unfortunately for the five-man team, the information had been wrong. There were several chuunin to low-jounin level missing ninja there as well as the bandits, which had already been killed. Even worse, the bandits had set off the alarm, and the genin and jounin had used at least half of their chakra.

Neji and Suzume had become separated from the other three and were currently backed into a corner with very few options. To conserve chakra, the Hyuuga prodigy had turned off his Byakugan.

Suzume's eyes widened as she saw a kunai, dripping with a yellow liquid, held by one of the nukenin. The blonde cussed as she raced toward her comrade. The Uzumaki reached Neji just in time to stop the kunai from hitting him, at a dangerous cost for a ninja.

The weapon had pulled off her hitai-ate, slicing diagonally across her forehead, destroying her right eye.

As the prodigy turned around, his white eyes widened when he saw the damage that had been done to his teammate. Neji snarled viscously and destroyed the nukenin's organs, finishing him off.

Leaning down, he shook his fallen friend. "Suzume! Suzume!" he called frantically. "Damn it Suzume, come on!"

The world spun before the lizard summoner's eyes. She saw her teammate, and called out to him. "Ne...Ji..?" she muttered, before falling unconscious.

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Hyuuga Neji paced rapidly in hospital room 313.

'Damn it!' he thought, cursing himself. 'Suzume lost her _eye_ because I wasn't careful enough! The poison that was on the kunai could _kill _her! And it's all my fault!'

TenTen's eyes flickered anxiously around the room. The weapons mistress wasn't quite sure what she was supposed to do. The Ryuusei fidgeted nervously before glancing at the blonde. She was hooked up to machines that monitored her vitals as well as an IV cord. The medics had said that the poison was a new one, never seen before. At the moment, they were doing all they could to find a cure for it.

Lee was strangely silent. He liked Suzume, with her talent for taijutsu. Who else would he be able to have an even match with? Neji didn't count because he used the jyuuken. Suzume was cheerful and bright. She might not see it, but the Uzumaki meant a lot to Team Gai.

Gai himself was scowling. 'Damn bastards.' He thought. 'I had to threaten the stupid idiots to get them to heal her.' The jounin was mad. Mad at himself, mad at the shinobi who had taken his student's eye, mad at the doctors who treated Suzume badly. 'I really need to break something...' he realized.

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When Suzume next opened her eyes she found herself in an unfamiliar place. It was a large sewer, with dime light filtering in form somewhere, which was odd because there was no opening in the ceiling. Instinctively, the jinchuuriki knew she was in her mind. 'Who would have thought my mindscape would be such a depressing place? Well, I suppose, with all the crap I have to put up with, I guess I shouldn't be surprised.' She thought.

Bored, she wandered randomly, but stopped when she reached a giant room with a cage at one end, closed with a seal. Tilting her head in confusion, Suzume walked up to it. As she came closer, the jinchuuriki could see the outline of a man. As she went even closer, she saw that the 'man' had nine tails waving behind him, and fox ears sticking out of his mop of orange hair. He wore a simple black kimono tied and the waist with a thin orange obi.

The Uzumaki stopped and stared.

There was several minutes of silence, before the man in front of her spoke up. "Well, um this is a surprise…Anyways…Welcome to my abode! You gaze upon the strongest of all Bijou, the wonderful Kyuubi no Kitsune himself! Bow before my greatness, human!"

This would have worked an most normal people, but Suzume was not and never would be normal by any means. By the time Kyuubi's speech was finished, the blonde had walked up to him and started fondling his ears.

"Kawaii!" she squealed.

The bijuu stared. "…Human, those are my ears you're fondling." He growled.

Suzume looked up at him with seemingly innocent eyes. "Your point?" she asked cheekily before returning to petting him.

Kyuubi stared. Never, in all his years of living, had he met a human quite like this one. "…You're Uzumaki Suzume, right? My vessel." He asked quietly.

The blonde stepped back from the cage. "Something like that." She replied.

Kyuubi shook his head. "Well…" he said, hesitantly. "I'm honestly not sure how to deal with you…"

Suzume cocked her head to the left. "Why don't you tell me about why you attacked the village?" she suggested.

The fox let out a sigh. "I can't believe I'm doing this…" he muttered. "It started a night before October 10th. I, personally, am much more comfortable in my human form then in my 200 foot tall fox form. I was sleeping in my den when an Uchiha walked inside. Before I could move, he captured me in his genjutsu. The next thing I knew, I was trapped in here. A little taping into your memories, and I found out what I did." The Kitsune shook his head. "I can't believe it, quite honestly. If it helps, I am sorry many times over for what I've brought upon you."

Suzume blinked. She could detect no lies in his chakra, and his story did make sense. "What was the Uchiha's name?" she asked curiously.

"Madara." Kyuubi said, spitting out the name like it was a piece of garbage he wanted to get rid of.

"Do you want to kill him?" she asked.

Kyuubi blinked before answering. "Yes, I believe so."

Suzume thought for a moment. "Alright, here's the deal," the blonde said. "When I get strong enough, I will kill this Uchiha Madara for you. Also, I will modify the mindscape so that you will have access to my senses. ON the other hand, you have to give me your chakra with none of the side effects. Deal?"

Kyuubi stared. "That's more than fair." He said. "I agree."

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The taijutsu master was about to walk out of the room when Suzume let out a weak groan. He turned around so fast he swore that he must have snapped a few muscles.

Everybody else seemed to have a similar reaction as all of Team 9 rushed to the blonde's side. Her eyes slowly opened, and then she shot up into her sitting position like a bullet. "Neji! Where's Neji?! Is he okay?!" she asked, eyes flicking around the room frantically.

Neji rushed to her side. "Calm down, Suzume. It's all right. We're all okay." He murmured reassuringly.

The jinchuuriki sighed in relief. "Sorry. I was worried. After I went down, anything could have happened…"

TenTen shook her head. "Nah. We got away with minimal injury. Mission successful."

Lee gave a blinding smile. "Yosh! Our team's flames of youth burn most brightly!"

The blonde nodded as she felt her mouth curve up into a small smile. "That's good."

Before the team could catch up to each other, the door opened to reveal the head of the Hyuuga clan, Hyuuga Hiashi.

Neji stood up straighter. "Hiashi-sama!" he said in surprise. "Why are you here?"

The older Hyuuga blinked, and then nodded in acknowledgement to Neji before moving to stand beside Suzume.

The blonde frowned as she looked up at the man. "Hiashi-sama?" she questioned. "What do you need?"

"You are Uzumaki Suzume, correct?" Hiashi queried, ignoring, her previous question.

"Hai."

"And you are the one who saved my nephew from a blow by taking a kunai to the eye?"

"Hai"

The Hyuuga Head sighed. "Well then, I suppose I'd better get down to business." He muttered. "Hyuuga law states that if a non-Hyuuga saves a Hyuuga and loses and eye or eyes in the process, any eyes lost shall be replaced by the Byakugan, which will be provided by the Hyuuga clan."Hiashi shrugged. "That pretty much means that your missing eye will be replaced by a Byakugan. It is the clan's way of showing gratitude."

Suzume blinked. "Well damn…Wait, Byakugan?!"

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After the operation, Suzume felt much better than before. Now that Kyuubi didn't have to worry about regenerating her eye, the poison was going away much faster than it had previously. The blonde was happily walking home a day later, and doing missions with her team a day after that. She now wore her headband tilted across her right eye, in a fashion similar to her sensei. It was better for her to hide her secrets then to shout them out to the world, right?

However, it hurt when Sasuke, Sakura, and Kakashi didn't really care about it. If she was reading them correctly, they were pretty much saying that they didn't give a rat's tail about her. It hurt, like a rusty kunai jammed into her stomach, and then twisted around.

She hid her pain with grins and confidence, like she always had. If her precious people were happy, she was happy.

At least that's what she told herself.

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Well, I hope you enjoyed that. I certainly did. The last part was a glimpse into Suzume's mentality, and what I believe Naruto's to be as well. It shows a darker side of her, one that is there but isn't seen very often.


	4. The First Test

Yukihana: Welcome to chapter three of Konoha no Gogyou Tokage! I hope you like it.

Hisako: Remember, if the guy you want isn't on here, vote for him anyways. All SasuNaru votes will be purposely forgotten.

Yukihana: Also, a note~! I have now decided that there will be a MAIN CHARACTER DEATH during the Suna-Oto invasion. Besides the Sandaime of course. Also, this is not turning out to be a Team 7 bashing fic. I apologize to those who wanted that.

Shikamaru: 1

Shino: 1

Itachi: 2

Neji: 2

Kyuubi: 4

Yamato: 1

Lee: 1

**Note: I have also made a new, better, summary;**

**Rising like a phoenix from the ashes of a dark childhood, Uzumaki Suzume will become the legend known as Konoha's Five-Element Lizard. This is the tale of one Kunoichi's rise to fame following a path of sweat, blood, tears, cussing, and chakra.**

The First Test

Konoha no Gogyou Tokage

Just like she had vowed two months ago, a certain blonde beauty had gone shopping and bought a whole new set of clothing. And a few more…decorations.

Suzume now wore a white belly top and a skirt split at the sides in the same color. Underneath this she wore a short-sleeved fishnet bodysuit that went down to her knees. Her steel shin and arm guards were on, and she also wore fingerless leather gloves that helped her grip her sword. Over all of this she wore a black robe with the kanji for "fight" written on it in white. The blonde's hitai-ate was tilted over her Byakugan to conceal it, while part of the scar that had destroyed her original eye was still visible. Last week, the jinchuuriki had gotten a tattoo of a lizard that looked like Azami wrapped around her forearm. "Just for kicks" she had said when Anko asked her why.

The blonde walked behind Sasuke, next to Sakura, in the Delta formation that had been drilled into the trio's head.

The Uzumaki's eyes flicked to the sign reading '301' before narrowing momentarily. 'Genjutsu.' She realized a minute later. Looking to her companions, she saw Sakura's eyes spark with understanding and Sasuke's eyes glare at the poorly concealed illusion.

Returning her gaze to the door, Suzume saw two genin-age shinobi blocking the front door. Standing in front of them were Neji, Lee, and TenTen. Watching as one of them punched Lee she thought 'They must be concealing their true abilities. There is no way Lee would allow somebody to hit him like that if he was serious.'

Following her male teammate, the blonde pushed her way towards the front of the crowd.

"I agree." Sasuke said, responding to the things about the chuunin exams the genin pair had said. "But you should let us through and drop the genjutsu on our surroundings. We're going to the third floor."

The one on the left smirked. "So you noticed it, eh?"

The Uchiha nodded. "Of course. Sakura, you must have noticed it first, right? Your genjutsu know-how is the most advanced on our team."

The Haruno gasped. 'Sasuke-kun....' she thought. 'Thank you…' Sakura nodded and let out a small chuckle. "Of course I noticed a while ago. Because this is the second floor."

Suzume nodded, walking up to stand with her teammates. "Even I saw it. And I'm the worst a genjutsu in my year."

The sign melted, showing its true number, 201.

The genin with spiky hair smirked. "Hmm…Not bad…But all you did was see through it!" he said as he rushed forward, kicking Sasuke, while the raven responded in kind. Suzume was about to interfere when a certain Rock Lee jumped in between the two shinobi and caught both of their kicks.

Sakura choked in surprise. 'He's fast…he was able to see both kicks and then slide himself in between…amazing. He's a completely different person then the one who was getting knocked over earlier.

Sasuke eyed the genin warily. 'What's this...?' he wondered. 'Is that chakra in his arms?'

"Hey." Neji interrupted. "What happened to the plan? You were the one who suggested we hide our true abilities.

Lee's eyebrows twitched. "You did not sense the flames of Suzume's youth? Shame on you!"

Neji blinked, and turned to give the team another look. Eyeing the blond kunoichi, she gained another point for her ability to blend in.

Noticing that she was under scrutiny, Suzume raised one hand in a lazy wave similar to that of her original jounin-sensei. "Yo."

Neji nodded in greeting. "Hello Suzume. I didn't know you were participating this time."

The blonde shrugged in response.

Turning to her Uchiha teammate, Neji said hello as impolitely as possible. "Uchiha Sasuke. I've heard tales. None of them good."

Sasuke glared.

TenTen waved to Suzume before her team left for the first exams.

'Heh. That team…they're pretty strong…' Sasuke thought.

"Suzume! Sasuke-kun! Let's go!" Sakura said, pulling along her whining teammates.

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As soon as Team 7 entered the examination room, Sasuke was immeadiatly tackled by Yamanaka Ino, a blonde kunoichi wearing a purple shirt and skirt. Following were the rest of the second Ino-Shika-Chou team, Nara Shikamaru, and Akimichi Chouji. As Sakura and Ino started their usual bickering over Sasuke, Suzume rolled her eyes and covered her ears until they stopped.

"Yahoo! found you!" Inuzaka Kiba, another male wearing a parka and carrying his ninken partner on his head, called. Hinata, the shy Hyuuga heir, stuttered out a small hello, while her teammate Aburame Shino did not speak.

"Well well, looks like everyone is assembled." The Inuzaka said.

"Geez..." Shikamaru muttered. "You guys too?"

Kiba's feral eyes narrowed. "Ah, I see. All of the 9 rookies are taking the exam this year. I wonder how far we will all get…eh, Sasuke-kun?"

"You seem confident Kiba…" the Uchiha replied nonchalantly.

"Pfft. We did a lot of training. We won't lose to you!"

Suzume glared. She hated being underestimated. "Shut up! I can't speak for the rest of my team, but I won't lose to the likes of you!"

Hinata flinched at the loud noise. "Sorry Suzume. Kiba-kun didn't mean it like that…"

The blonde was about to respond when someone else spoke up. "Hey, you guys really should be quieter."

The speaker was another genin with white hair and round glasses. "You guys are rookies just out of the academy, right? Screaming like schoolgirls, geez…This isn't a picnic. Who do you guys think you are? But instead of that, look behind you."

"Behind?" Sakura muttered before doing as the older shinobi suggested.

Everybody but Suzume turned around, the blonde having already felt the killing intent the ame-nin had been emitting.

"Those guys behind you are from Amegakure. They have short tempers. Everybody is nervous about the exam, quiet down before you cause a scene. But then again, you're just clueless rookies, so I can't blame you."

There was silence for a few minutes before Sakura spoke up. "Kabuto-san, right?"

"Yeah."

"So this is your second time taking the exams?"

"Nope. My seventh. The chuunin exams come around twice a year, so this is my fourth year."

"So you know a lot about this exam, then?"

"Yeah."

"Impressive…" Suzume murmured.

Kabuto chuckled as he pulled out a deck of cards. "Well then I'll share some info with you cute little rookies. With these nin-info cards…They are basically cards with information burned onto them with chakra. I have four years worth of information on here…at least two hundred cards. Normally they look blank, but when I force my chakra into them, they will reveal their secrets." The white-haired boy said as he demonstrated the process.

"For example, here we have and easy-to-read graph that gives the basic breakdown of each village's participants." Kabuto said, flipping over a card that displayed a map.

"Do you have any cards on the participants?" Sasuke queried.

"…So there are some guys you're worried about. Of course. The info on here isn't perfect, but I have it. Even of you guys. Just give me the names."

"Sunagakure no Gaara and Konohagakure no Rock Lee."

"Oh. You know their names…this should be easy then…" Kabuto said as he shuffled through his cards.

"Show me." Sasuke said.

"Right. First is Rock Lee. He's a year older then you. Mission History: 20 D-ranks, 14 C-ranks…and wow, 2 B-ranks…That's impressive. His sensei is Maito Gai. His taijutsu has improved rapidly, but nothing else is really impressive. Last year he gained attention as a talented new genin. This is his first time in the exams, like you guys. Teammates are Hyuuga Neji and Ryuusei TenTen."

"Next is Gaara of the Desert. Mission History: 6 C-ranks and 1 B rank. Since he's from another country, I don't have any of his stats…but I do know that he came back from all of his missions without a scratch. Teammates are his sensei, Baki, and his siblings, Temari and Kankurou."

"Konoha, Suna, Ame, Kusa, Taki, Oto…there's a lot of talented youngsters out there. Otogakure is relatively new and small so you probably don't have to worry about them, but as for the rest…"

"So basically…Everyone's here…" Sakura said.

"Yeah." Kabuto agreed. "And like Gaara, they are all the elite genin of their village."

Suzume's eyebrow twitched as she thought of something. 'I'm about to do something really stupid aren't I…' she thought. 'Bah, whatever! Screw the consequences!'

"My name is Uzumaki Suzume, proud kunoichi of Konohagakure! I won't lose to you bastards!" she shouted to the whole room. "And if anybody's got a problem with that, the line starts right here!"

Sakura blinked. "Either she's really stupid or really brave…"

"**Both" **her inner persona said.

Shikamaru's eyebrow twitched. "I'm not sure whether that was a smart thing to do or suicide…"

There was a slight click on the floor as three shinobi rushed from their spots towards the back of the room.

The oto-nin with spiky black hair leaped up and threw two oddly-shaped kunai at Kabuto. Suzume's eyes narrowed and the blonde caught the projectiles on her finger by the holes in the center of the blade. Behind her, the bandaged one punched Kabuto, but luckily he dodged.

'He's fast…' Suzume thought.

Suddenly, the glass on his right lense began to crack before it fell out of its frame.

'Kabuto-san dodged the punch! How did his glasses crack?' the blonde wondered.

About three seconds later, some sort of aftershock hit Kabuto, and he threw up. After everybody was done being surprised, they eyed the Oto-nin warily.

Then, there was a burst of smoke. "Quiet down you worthless bastards!" Ibiki said.

Suzume's eyebrows rose. 'Who was crazy enough to appoint him as a proctor? This will be interesting…'

"Right. I'm Morino Ibiki, head examiner of the first test."

After seats were given, tests handed out, and rules outlined, Ibiki gave them the go-ahead signal.

Suzume flipped over her paper and looked at the first question. 'A cryptogram…good, I can do these codes…In fact, Ibiki and Anko taught me most of Konoha's codes…'

Fifteen minutes later, the cryptogram was finished. Looking over the other questions, Suzume swore. 'Son of bitch! I can't answer any of the other questions. Just what are you trying to pull, scar face?' the blonde wondered. 'The way of a shinobi is to use any possible advantage. Being honorable is for samurai out in open battle. With this many proctors watching….they expect us to cheat. So why not oblige them? While it is easier to use it uncovered, I can still use my Byakugan like this…'

Activating her transplanted dojutsu, Suzume looked around and started scribbling.

Sensing the displaced air signifying movement, the blonde moved her head out of the way just in time to avoid getting hit by a kunai hitting the paper of the person behind her. 'Sucka…' she thought.

'Only three people have remained completely calm through this…Suzume, that Gaara kid, and the Aburame…I guess I should have expected that. It's about time to start the question…' Ibiki observed.

"All right then…we will now begin the tenth question. But before that I must explain the added rules. These are the rules of desperation, created for those of you who have waited for this last question to salvage yourself. For this question, you must choose whether to take it or not."

After an outburst from the suna kunoichi, Ibiki spoke again. "If you choose not to, your points will be reduced to zero, and you will fail along with your teammates. However…If you choose to take it and answer the question incorrectly…you will lose the right to ever take the chuunin exams again! You guys had bad luck. This year, it's my rules. But if you are not confident you can answer the question, you can always quit and come again next year."

Sakura gasped. 'What a horrible decision! It's practically impossible to answer!"

"If you want to leave, just raise your hand."

Sakura thought carefully about her next decision. 'Suzume…When I first met her, I thought she was an annoying idiot…but she has changed…she was always yelling about that impossible dream of hers…Hokage…Suzume…for a change you should think of yourself and not others. What will you pick?'

Suzume rested her face on her palm lazily. 'Really, Ibiki? This was all you could come up with? That's just sad."

Five teams left before the jinchuuriki voiced her thoughts.

"You know, there is this wonderful thing called a field promotion, scar face." She drawled.

Ibiki's eyebrow twitched. "Brat…" he muttered.

Most of the proctors choked. Anybody that referred to Ibiki as scar face was as good as dead.

The statement had let out a fit of giggles from the chuunin prospects.

Surveying the room Ibiki thought about his next step. 'That Suzume…there's no point in drawing it out any longer'

"Okay then…To those that remain…You pass!" the ANBU said, grinning.

"WHAT?"

"The tenth question was those two options I just gave you. As a chuunin, you will have to make difficult and dangerous choices, but there are some that you cannot always take the easiest path. If you are not capable of taking that leap of faith, you are not fit to be chuunin!"

A millisecond later, one of the windows broke. A ball of cloth unraveled to show Anko.

Suzume blinked. 'Are they purposely putting the most sadistic tokubetsu jounin as head proctors?'

The Mitiraishi looked around. "78 teams? You've lost your touch, Ibiki."

The Morino shook his head. "Nah. You owe the number of teams to a certain blonde-haired, blue-eyed kunoichi."

Anko rose an eyebrow and looked for her jinchuuriki student. "I didn't know Suzume was participating in the exam." She said as her eyes landed on the blonde.

"Neither did I."

The Snake Mistress shrugged. "Whatever. I'll cut them in at least half with this next test. Anyway, follow me to the second exam squirts!~"


	5. The Forest of Death

Yukihana: Yeah! Welcome to the Forest of Death! This chapter has now been revamped.

Hisako: I hope you like the fight with Orochimaru. I tried to get it just right.

Yukihana: Also, I wanted to tell you that the Yamato pairing was a mistake. I apologize, and have corrected it.

Hisako: Since I am a female Shikamaru, I am only going to write out the matches that changed for the preliminaries 'cause everybody probably knows how the matches went.

Pairings Poll

Shikamaru: 1

Shino: 1

Itachi: 2

Neji: 3

Kyuubi: 4

Lee: 1

The Forest of Death and Preliminaries

Konoha no Gogyou Tokage

Sakura stared at training ground 44. "This is creepy…" she muttered.

Up on her podium, Anko smirked. "Heh. You'll soon find out why this is called the Shi no Mori."

Suzume snorted. "You'll soon find out why this is called the Forest of Death? Is that all you can come up with? That doesn't scare me!"

The Mitiraishi chuckled. "Spirited as ever, eh Suzume?" while pulling out a kunai and throwing it in the girls direction in a lightning fast movement. The blonde moved her head slightly to the right and caught the weapon in between her middle and pointer finger.

Anko disappeared and then reappeared behind the blonde. "It's good to see you haven't been slacking off. If you had…It might have been…unpleasant."

"Between you and Ibiki, I don't think I'll ever be able to slack off." Suzume pointed out dryly.

"Hehe. Looking around, I can tell there are a lot of bloodthirsty ones in this test. Looks like fun, eh Blondie?"

"Yep. Sure does look like that, doesn't it, Psycho?"

Anko nodded. "Kill at least one person for me."

The jinchuuriki smirked. "Of course Anko-sensei."

The Mitiraishi turned around and began to speak to the crowd of genin. "There's one more thing I have to do before the start of the second test!" she said, pulling out a stack of forms. "These are consent forms. There will be deaths in this one, and I don't' want it to be my responsibility, so…Anyways! I'm going to explain the second test, and then you can sign them. So…The second test is one of survival. I will now explain the area the test will be taking place on. Training ground 44 is formed in a circle of 44 locked gates with a tower in the center and a river running through it. The Tower is about 10km from the gates. While in the forest, you will participate in a no rules scroll battle. You will fight over these two scrolls, the 'Heaven' and the 'Earth'. There are 26 teams here, so 13 will get the heaven, and 13 will get the earth. You must obtain both scrolls, so thirteen teams will defiantly fail, but the actual number is probably going to be less than that. Also, you have five days in the forest. Now I will explain how you can get disqualified. One, if you do not reach the tower with both scrolls within five days. Two, if you lose or have a teammate kill. Third, if you open the scrolls before you reach the tower. That's it for now. Go ahead, turn in your forms, and take your scrolls, then go choose your gate."

Sasuke sat down and watched the other teams. 'I see. The curtain is used so you can't see which scroll it is, or who on the team takes it. It's just like Ibiki said. This is a battle where we will fight for information. Everybody is an enemy. Everybody is determined…there will be killing.'

When Team 7 walked up to the booth, Suzume took the heaven scroll and slipped it up her sleeve.

* * *

Suzume stood just inside the gate, in front of her teammates. "Alright! Let's go!"

A few minutes later, an eerie scream sounded through the forest. The blonde smirked. 'Looks like it's begun…'

"That was…a human scream, right?" Sakura asked nervously. "This is getting creepy…"

The Uzumaki frowned in annoyance. "I gotta go piss. I'll be back soon."

The pinkette glared after her female teammate, grumbling about how vulgar she was. A few minutes later, Suzume came back. When she walked up to Sasuke, the raven immeadiatly punched her. Sakura's eyes widened. 'Huh?' she thought. "Sasuke-kun, why…"

From her position at the base of a tree, Suzume rubbed her cheek. "What the hell are you doing, bastard?"

"Where is the real Suzume?" Sasuke demanded. "You forgot the lizard tattoo."

There was a poof of smoke before an Ame-nin appeared where the blonde used to be. "Unlucky for you! You figured it out. Now which one of you has the scroll?"

Sasuke jumped into the air and preformed a series of seals at a speed that would put most chuunin to shame before calling out "Katon: Hosenka no Jutsu!" (Fire Release: Phoenix Technique) and spitting out four fireballs, but they missed.

The Uchiha dodged a volley of kunai before discovering one had an explosion note attached and jumping away. The Ame-nin quickly jumped behind Sasuke and put a kunai to his neck. Before he could kill the Konoha-nin, a kunai came down at him.

"You won't get away!" Suzume shouted.

Sasuke smirked as the enemy leaped up. 'You're always late Suzume…' he thought as he attached the kunai to his foot with chakra and flung it at the enemy. The Ame-nin was fast enough to dodge the kunai but not enough to dodge Sasuke's elbow, which went straight into his diaphragm. Using his other hand, the raven stabbed the enemy's left arm.

Sakura gasped. "Sasuke-kun…"

The Sharingan user glared. "Look, this is rough but I don't have a choice! If we relax, we really will be killed!"

The Ame-nin ran.

* * *

Ten minutes later, Team 7 was sitting in a clearing.

"Look." Sasuke said. "This could happen again, so let's make a password. Listen closely; I'm only going to say this once. The song "Nin Machine"… A large amount of loud enemies are the shinobi's friend. Hide and remain silent. A shinobi must know the proper time to strike, when the enemy is tired and ill prepared."

Suzume frowned. "How the hell am I supposed to remember that?" she asked in annoyance. Everybody ignored her. "I'll take the scroll" Sasuke said.

The blonde twitched as she felt a pebble hit her cheek. A second later, a large gust of wind came their way. Recognizing the chakra nature immeadiatly, Suzume shouted "Fuuton?" in confusion.

* * *

Sasuke stood up from underneath his bush as the wind died down. Looking around, he saw Sakura walking towards him.

"Sasuke-kun!"

"Sakura! First the 'Nin Machine'!"

The pinkette nodded and recited the poem perfectly.

A second later, Suzume came out. "Hey guys, are you alright?" she asked.

"Wait!" Sasuke said. "First, the password!"

"Oh!" the blonde said. "A large amount of loud enemies are the shinobi's friend. Hide and remain silent. A shinobi must know the proper time to strike, when the enemy is tired and ill prepared."

Sasuke smirked, before throwing a kunai.

"What?" Sakura shouted. "Sasuke-kun, Suzume said the code word…"

"So this time it's someone good enough to doge my attacks…" the Uchiha muttered.

The Uzumaki grinned evilly before going up in a puff of smoke and revealing the female Kusa-nin. "How did you know it was me?" she asked.

Sasuke smirked. "I saw you listening to our conversation. That's why I picked that codeword. The real Suzume would never remember something like that."

"I see…Neither tired nor ill prepared are we? This may be more fun than I thought…"

* * *

Suzume grimaced before standing up. "Damn. That was a pretty nice Fuuton technique. I wonder which one it is?" she muttered to herself before looking up.

"Well, shit."

The blonde looked up at three giant snakes.

'What the hell is up with this forest? First I meet a fox youkai, now a snake? I've never seen one so big!'

Quickly, the blonde dodged as the serpent slammed its huge tail down were she was standing only a second earlier. Before the Uzumaki could move again, the snake wrapped its tail around Suzume and swallowed her.

"Kami dammnit! This is disgusting!" she shouted.

* * *

"That's true." Sakura said. "If it had been Suzume, she would have said something like 'I forgot the password'".

"You want my "Earth" scroll, right? Since you have the "Heaven" scroll." The Kusa-nin stated, shoving the scroll down her throat. "So let us begin the battle of the scrolls…With our lives on the line."

Immeadiatly, the two experienced their deaths, causing Sakura to become immobile and Sasuke to throw up.

'Genjutsu?' the raven wondered. 'No…the killing intent in her eyes caused us to see our deaths….Just who is she?'

Glancing over at his trembling teammate he realized, 'We must run! Otherwise…there is only death!'

Sasuke's eyes widened as the enemy threw two kunai towards him. 'I have to move!' he thought urgently, grabbing Sakura and pushing them out of the way just in time.

* * *

"Damn you! Retarded snake! Barf me up!" Suzume shouted.

'Damn. This is not good. At this rate I really will melt. How to do this..?' she wondered, until a light bulb went off in her head. 'Good thing I have a grip on wind manipulation…' she thought. Concentrating, the blonde used her Jyuuken training to send out blades of wind from all of her tenketsu, forming a maelstrom, slicing the snake to bits within ten minutes.

"I am the kunoichi that will become great! I'm not gonna be turned into shit at a time like this! Now to get rid of the other two serpents…"

* * *

Sakura panicked. "Sasuke-kun!" she shouted, "Snake!"

The Uchiha whirled around to see a speckled serpent hanging down from the tree. Both he and his teammate leaped to another branch.

It went after Sakura. The pinkette leaped into the air, sending shuriken at the snake. But the monster (as that was a more descriptive name for it,) slammed the kunoichi against a tree, where she slid down to a branch, unconscious.

Just then, the Kusa-nin rose out of the snake's scales. "You guys shouldn't relax for even a moment. Prey should always be trying their best to run away. In the presence of a predator, that is."

Sasuke gasped as the enemy's waist lengthened, allowing her to wrap around the branch like a snake. The raven threw some shuriken at the Kusa-nin, temporarily pausing her advance.

The Uchiha closed his eyes. 'Looks like I have no choice…' he thought. When his eyes, snapped open, they were two-tomoed Sharingan.

The Kusa-nin smirked. 'I'll take my time and test your ability…'

'I always thought…that I would be the one to kill Itachi. But I was always afraid…How can I expect to face him if I can't risk my life here?' Sasuke thought as he sent a fuuma shuriken attached to Nin wire flying at his opponent.

Gripping the wire between his teeth, he formed four different seals and thought 'Katon: Ryuuka no jutsu!' (Fire Release: Dragon Flame Technique) sending a jet of flame at the enemy. To his surprise, the technique did not burn the Kusa kunoichi's face, but instead melted it off to reveal a man with golden snake eyes.

"As I thought, Sasuke-kun…I do want you!" the man shouted.

* * *

Suzume leaped into the air, before slamming her fist down on the left snake. "Eat shit!" she screamed, slamming the snake into the forest floor. It did not rise again. Unsealing her katana, the blonde proceeded to butcher the second serpent, cutting it up into several innumerable pieces.

Wiping her forehead, the blonde smiled mischievously. "That was fun."

* * *

Forming an unfamiliar seal, the Snake Sannin's neck extended, bringing it forward towards the raven before biting down on Sasuke's neck and forming a seal that contained of three tomoe. "My name is Orochimaru. If you ever want to see me again, you must survive and pass these exams." He said before melting away completely.

'Damn…' Sasuke thought before passing out from the pain.

* * *

A half hour later, Suzume finally found her two missing teammates. 'Damnit you two…Just what happened while I was gone? And just what is that strange mark on bastard's neck?' she wondered as she began to set traps. 'Heh. If anybody sneaks up on us, they won't know what hit them. Pranks are just like traps, and I'm not known as "Konoha's Prankster Queen" for nothing!'

Several hours passed before anything interesting happened.

Suzume had just finished forcing Sasuke to swallow another fever-reducing pill when she heard a scuffle in the background. Whirling around, she was surprised to see that a squirrel was the source of the noise. The jinchuuriki's eyes widened when she saw the edge of a seal glued onto the animal's back. 'Explosive tag?' she thought, sending a kunai at the animal, sending it running away.

In the bushes, a team of shinobi conversed. "She's very observant," the one wrapped up in bandages said. "That's true Dosu…" the spiky haired one said. Soon, there was a chuckle from one end of the clearing. "Up all night were we?" a voice asked. "It doesn't matter. Wake Sasuke-kun up, he's the one we're here for."

Turning around, Suzume leveled an icy stare at the Sound Trio, focusing killing intent into her eyes. "And what makes you think I'm going to just wake him up? Uchiha is getting some well-needed rest right now. Come back later."

Dosu sighed. Zaku rolled his eyes. "I'll take the girl." He volunteered. Before he could step out, Kin stopped him. "Wait." She said, overturning some grass. "There's a trap here. Go up."

Her teammates followed the suggestion and leaped into the air. Suzume's eyes narrowed as she sliced a cord on her left side, letting a string of explosive tags swing down and activate, scattering the Oto-nin.

The blonde immeadiatly leaped into the air, immeadiatly heading for Zaku. Grabbing both of his arms in her right hand, she placed her foot in between his bent limbs and pressed, resulting in a sickening snap that signified that both of arms were broken. The Oto-nin gasped in pain, kneeling on the ground.

Turning to the other two enemies, the Uzumaki charged them and landed a punch charged with earth chakra on Kin's stomach, pushing the air out of her lungs and effectively rendering her unconscious.

Dosu narrowed his one visible eye. 'Zaku…Kin…This girl is obviously very strong. I will try and avenge you. But now is not the time or place.' "You are very strong, kunoichi-san. I will give you our scroll. But before we leave, will you tell me your name?"

Suzume gave a small smile. "Uzumaki Suzume. Good luck with the rest of the exams."

The shinobi nodded, dropping the "Earth" scroll on the ground. "You as well."

"Well." Suzume said. "We have both scrolls. All I have to do is lug these two to the tower…."

* * *

A day later, Team 7 entered the tower after 3 days in the forest. Both Sakura and Sasuke were awake at this point, thankfully. Suzume pulled out both scrolls and then opened them. Recognizing them as summoning scrolls, she tossed them away to see what-or who-they would reveal. There was a poof of smoke before it floated away to reveal Umino Iruka.

Confused, Suzume tilted her head to the side, a perplexed look crossing her face.

The Academy sensei smiled. "Congratulations. All three of you have successfully passed the first test. The poem on the wall behind me is the motto of the chuunin. Be sure to heed it when you take the next test. Good luck to all of you."

When Team 7 entered the next room, they were greeted by Kakashi, who lead off Sasuke, saying something about a curse. The next two days were spent waiting for the exams to end.

* * *

TenTen's eyes narrowed as she saw all of her weapons swept away by Temari's fan. 'Looks like the only option I have are Suzume's kunai. I was going to save this for the finals…But it looks like I don't have a choice!' the brunette thought, bringing out a white and black scroll with the kanji "Kaji" (Fire) written on it. Leaping into the air, the Ryuusei flung about thirty kunai at her opponent. The Suna kunoichi smirked, before swinging her fan. TenTen smiled grimly as the weapons burst into flames, sending the wind and fire combo back at the fan user. Temari was engulfed in a vortex of flames and was knocked out through lack of oxygen.

"Winner: Ryuusei TenTen"

* * *

Inuzaka Kiba

Vs.

Uzumaki Suzume

"Yahoo! looks like we got an easy opponent, eh Akamaru?" Kiba said cheerfully as he walked down the stairs.

Suzume took the faster way and shunshined to the floor.

"Hajime"

"If you underestimate me, you will regret it, Kiba." The blonde said. "If you relax, I will win this match!"

The Inuzaka snorted. "Big words for a dead-last like you. Can you prove them?"

The Uzumaki narrowed her eyes and lifted her chin.

Kiba sneered. "This should be easy. Shikyaku no jutsu!" (Four Legs Technique) before immeadiatly rushing Suzume in his animalistic state, preparing to strike the blonde with his elbow. Instead, the Uzumaki grabbed his forearm and, using her enhanced strength, tossed the ninken user across the room.

"WHAT!" Ino screamed. "How the hell did she do that?"

Shikamaru stared. "The only other person to have that sort of strength is Tsunade of the Sannin, achieved by using her superior chakra control-but it took her years to master, and Suzume doesn't have anywhere near enough control to do that. I…there's simply no way."

Asuma's eyes widened. 'What the hell did Kakashi do?'

Kiba just barely managed to prevent himself from being smashed into the wall by grabbing onto it with his chakra. 'This…Is defiantly not the Suzume I used to know!'

Jumping back down to the ground, Kiba leaned over as Akamaru jumped on top of him. In dog language, the ninken barked out "Jujin Bunshin!" (Beast Human Clone) which transformed him into a perfect copy of his master.

"Gatsuuga!" (Dual Piercing Fang) the pair shouted, before spinning and attacking Suzume.

'Fast…' she thought, as she applied chakra to her feet to speed up her reactions. 'Let's see…how should I do this?' she wondered. 'Ah! I know!' she thought as she emitted all the killing intent she could muster, directing it at Kiba.

The Inuzaka began to slow down as the fear he was feeling clogged up his nerves. Finally stopping the jutsu, he flicked a soldier pill to his partner. "Let's go Akamaru!" he said.

'So the one on the left is the ninken…If I take him out, Kiba will be that much easier to get rid of!' Suzume thought, launching herself towards her target before he could react. Shoving a spear strike (a martial arts technique where you hold all your fingers together, forming a triangle, and slam it into an opponent's diaphragm or another weak spot) filled with electricity, easily knocking Akamaru unconscious. The Inuzaka gasped before glaring at the blonde. "You…" he murmured, voice filled with rage, before rushing the kunoichi. Suzume dodged his punch, spun around so that she was behind him, and placed a kunai at his neck.

"Winner: Uzumaki Suzume"

* * *

Hyuuga Neji

Vs.

Hyuuga Hinata

"Neji-niisan…" Hinata murmured.

"Hinata-sama. If you wish to forfeit, do so now. I don't have a grudge against you." The branch member said.

"No, Neji-niisan…we fight."

The oldest of the pair nodded curtly. "As you wish, Hinata-sama"

The two of them exchanged taijutsu for a few seconds, but none seemed to be better than the other. "I have been training." Hinata said. "With _her._"

Neji's eyes widened at the implication, causing him to falter before backing up. "If that is so, I suppose it would be rude to not go full out." He said, taking a stance. "Hakke Rokujuyon Sho!" (Eight Triagrams, Sixty-Four Palms)

The Branch Member rushed forward and managed to land two strikes before Hinata counter-attacked.

"Shugohakke Rokujuyon Sho!" (Guardian Eight Trigrams, Sixty-Four Palms) an attack that emitted strips of chakra emitted from Hinata's palms that worked both as a defense and an offence. When Neji hit the chakra net again, it sliced his palm. "I see…" he said. "You have created your own ultimate defense."

The Hyuuga heir nodded and smiled, before raising her hand. "Proctor." She said. "I forfeit. That technique is not one I can use very well or very often yet, and I will run out of chakra before Neji-niisan."

"Winner: Hyuuga Neji"

* * *

Hayate flicked his gaze between the two genin. Lee was down for the count, while Gaara was standing up. The proctor called the match, and was about to turn around and see who the next two were when he heard the sound of shifting sand. Turning around, he saw the Suna shinobi preparing to crush Lee.

'Shit!' Suzume thought before pumping chakra into her veins and pulling Lee out of the way, just in time to avoid the deadly sand. Sighing inrelief as she landed on the observation deck, the blonde watched Gaara until he calmed down and returned to his team and gave Lee to the medic-nins.


	6. Flash Cry

Yukihana: I hope all of you guys are enjoying my badass taijutsu! I've now decided that I'll take suggestions for different techniques, and if I like them, I'll use them.

Hisako: And for those of you who haven't noticed, the latest chapter of Mokuton are a clone of last chapter's…that's why there are so many he/she mistakes.

Yukihana: Pairings Poll…

Shikamaru: 2

Shino: 2

Itachi: 4

Neji: 4

Kyuubi: 6

Lee: 1

Gaara: 1

More Training

Kakashi bared his teeth under his mask as the jounin slammed his hands down on the table with so much force that the wood cracked. "What the hell do you mean I can't train Suzume?" he asked indignantly.

The Copy Nin had wanted to train Suzume and Sasuke for the finals mostly to alleviate the guilt he was feeling because he had left the jinchuuriki to fend for herself. 'Or is it because I want to share some of the fame?' he wondered. 'I originally thought she would amount to nothing, and look where she is now…Gai, you really won this round.' He thought wryly. Taking a breath to calm himself, he took one last look at the councilors before walking out to the jounin lounge.

"So how did it go?" Asuma asked.

Kakashi sighed before replying. "They pretty much forbid me from teaching Suzume for the tournament."

There were several gasps. Forbidding a jounin to teach their student was unheard of. "Is it because she's the container of-you know?" one of them asked.

The Copy Nin sighed. "Probably."

* * *

After the preliminaries were over, Suzume skipped cheerfully before making her way across the village towards the "Dragon's Den", the weapons shop that TenTen's family owned. Entering through the door, the blonde picked out fifty well made kunai and was about to pay for them when she bumped into somebody, causing her to spill the weapons across the floor.

Robbing her head, she cussed under her breath. Looking up at the person she had bumped into, the Uzumaki saw a man dressed similarly to a Kabuki actor. The jinchuuriki's eyes widened when she saw the horned hitai-ate. "Well, I never expected to find the Gama Sennin in a weapons store. Sorry about that, Jiraiya-san." Suzume said as she stood up and paid for her kunai.

The white-haired Sannin blinked in surprise. "What's your name, kid?" he asked.

Suzume looked over her shoulder for a moment. "Uzumaki Suzume," she replied before leaving.

Jiraiya was floored. 'Uzu…maki…' he thought in shock, before his face twisted into an expression of anger. 'Old man…you'd better have a good explanation for this!' he thought before he teleported to the Hokage tower.

* * *

Sarutobi Hiruzen was having a completely normal day until a certain perverted Sannin burst into his room. Sannin were scary when they were mad, and Jiraiya was downright pissed.

"Jiraiya?" the Sandaime said. "What's wrong?"

"I just found a girl named Uzumaki Suzume in a weapons shop." The Sennin said in a deceptively calm voice. "Care to explain?"

The Hokage winced before sighing. "What about her Jiraiya?"

"You told me she was dead!"

"Think logically. One of the Sannin taking in a girl that looks like a female version of the Yondaime? People would start asking questions, assassins would be sent out, and she would die."

The Gama Sennin sighed, seeing truth in his sensei's words. "I guess…" he said, trailing off. "But I mean…does she know?"

"About her heritage? No. Kyuubi? Yes."

Again, the Toad Sannin sighed. "How strong is she, would you guess?"

Sarutobi smirked. "Have you picked up rumors of a kunoichi known as the Eki Sennin? (Lizard Sage) the Gogyou? (Five Elements) Byakugan no Suzume?" (Suzume of the Byakugan)

Jiraiya's eyes widened in shock. "You don't mean…"

The Sandaime nodded. "That's exactly what I mean. She's not in the Bingo Book yet, and doesn't have any uniformal nickname, but those three are the most common. She has been coming along quite nicely…Suzume is actually in the chuunin exam finals next month."

"Can I…you know, teach her?" Jiraiya asked, uncharacteristically hesitant.

The Sandaime looked down before glancing out the window and returning his gaze to his former student. "…I do not believe that would be wise." He said sadly. "It would have the same effect as if you adopted her. I'm sorry, Jiraiya."

On the surface, Jiraiya nodded in agreement, while internally he was thinking 'I may not be able to teach her personally, but I can help her…'

* * *

When Suzume returned to her run-down apartment from giving TenTen a new set of kunai charged with elemental chakra, she was surprised to see a book on her doorstep. Picking it up, she read the title. 'Shunko?' (Flash Cry) she wondered. Flipping it open she was excited to see that it was a taijutsu style that met all the requirements for wind elementally recomposed chakra. 'Sweet. I'm going to start learning this tommorrow' she thought.

In the branches of a nearby tree, a Sannin smiled sadly before teleporting away.


	7. Tournament I

Yukihana: Right! I hope you like this chapter! The title means something along the lines of "Where the Gods Do not Help". Looking back on this, I don't think I did the tournament fights very well. However, I do like the way Sasuke's match turned out. He is always shown as the over-powered one in the manga, and I decided to change that.

Hisako: I bow to EDelta88 for the idea of adding in genjutsu to Suzume's Nintaijutsu. I will defiantly use this in the future!

Yukihana: to InARealPickle-thank you so much for your constructive criticism! It is very helpful. On a side note, I have always sucked at spelling, and apologize for any errors I make. I hope the below explanation will help you.

Now in answer to some reviews, I will do my best to explain Suzume's Byakugan transplant. First of all, it is possible for the Byakugan to be used by a non-Hyuuga safely and efficiently, as showed by Aoi, one of the Mizukage's guards. I got the idea for the transplant when Madara revealed that he collected Sharingan. It made me think, what do the Hyuugas do when a main branch member dies? It would be hard to destroy the eyes completely, so I think they keep them in a vault somewhere. As for the Hyuuga allowing Suzume to have the Byakugan, this came from Kakashi's Sharingan. If the Uchiha clan allowed him to keep it, why couldn't Suzume have one transplanted?

Hisako: To Nemo2002 – Most people do not know about her Byakugan and Summoning contract. The nicknames she has are relatively obscure and are given to her by people she helps on missions.

Yukihana: This is the cleaned-up version of this chapter

Shikamaru: 2

Shino: 2

Itachi: 5

Neji: 8

Kyuubi: 6

Lee: 1

Gaara: 1

Preliminaries I

Konoha no Gogyou Tokage

All ten genin were present in the arena except for Uchiha Sasuke and Kinata Dosu, who were both missing for unknown reasons, though Suzume guessed that some of Kakashi's chronic tardiness had rubbed off on Sasuke. The new proctor, Genma, sighed and began to speak. "Right. It is time for the first match to start. Everybody except for Hyuuga Neji and Uzumaki Suzume please leave."

And that was how, three minutes later, the blonde found herself facing her adopted teammate. "Let's have fun with this, yeah?" Suzume said.

Neji smirked and nodded in acceptance.

"Hajime!"

The two taijutsu specialists charged each other.

Neji quickly sent a palm strike at the jinchuuriki, but she blocked it with practiced ease before snapping her leg up and catching the Hyuuga in the gut with a vicious side kick.

"Take me seriously, or you are going to lose!" Suzume shouted. "Stop disrespecting me!"

The Branch member activated his Byakugan, and Neji and Suzume once again locked fists. Neither was winning, they were too evenly matched. Backing up, the Hyuuga thought 'I'm going to have to use that now...' Leaning down and forming his stance, he called out, "Hakke Rokujuyon Sho!" (Eight Trigrams, Sixty-Four Palms) before leaping forward and striking the jinchuuriki.

Neji's eyes widened, when, after the fifth strike, Suzume burst into smoke. Whirling around, he saw the real Uzumaki leaning against the arena, arms crossed, giving her trademark impish smirk. "Having fun playing with my clone?" she asked innocently.

The Branch member's right eyebrow twitched. The blonde charged Neji again, and the Hyuuga began to panic. 'Shit! She's too fast for me to dodge!' he thought, just before he began to spin in place while exuding chakra from all of his tenketsu. "Kaiten!" (Heavenly Spin/Whirl)

Stopping on a dime, the blonde still in front of, Neji before bursting into movement again, this time charging her right arm with wind chakra. The blade sliced through the so-called 'Ultimate Defense' like a hot knife through butter, allowing Suzume to position the blade at Neji's neck, drawing a drop of blood.

"Winner: Uzumaki Suzume!"

* * *

Sasuke's match was delayed, and Kankurou forfeited. Next up was-

"Ryuusei TenTen vs. Nara Shikamaru, you're next." Genma said. When said genin walked down, he swung his hand down, signifying the start of the match.

TenTen immeadiatly leapt back, sending a quick volley of weapons at Shikamaru, while the shadow-nin just dodged. "Che. So troublesome…" Shikamaru said. "It's tough fighting a woman…" The Ryuusei glared at the Nara before throwing even more weapons.

'Her only skill seems to be her weapons' Shikamaru thought. 'If I can dodge them for long enough and get her under the Kagemane, I'll be good. How to do this…' he wondered, settling into his "Thinking Stance".

Looking up a few seconds later, he sighed heavily before performing the rat hand seal and extending his shadow towards TenTen. The Ryuusei leaped back immeadiatly, drawing a line with her kunai to indicate where the shadow stopped.

Unrolling another scroll, the weapons mistress sent out a rain of weapons, some of which were kunai, senbon, shuriken, and kusari-gama. Shikamaru gulped, and somehow, through pure luck, escaped most of the weapons except for two shuriken and five senbon.

When TenTen finally stopped throwing weapons, the Nara executed his plan.

'I'll use _those_ scrolls this time!' the Ryuusei thought as she began to pull out another five summoning scrolls, kunai still in hand. TenTen's eyes widened as she found herself unable to move. "Wha-!" she shouted in confusion.

Across the arena, Shikamaru smirked. "Kagemane no jutsu, success."

"How?" TenTen asked. "You were at your limit a few minutes ago!"

The Nara shook his head. "No. I just pretended I was. You thought I was at the limit of my technique, so you didn't pay attention to the shadow. I had the capability to go a few feet farther, and that was your downfall." The shadow-nin said as he held his closed hand next to his neck, forcing TenTen to hold her kunai at her own throat.

"Winner: Nara Shikamaru."

* * *

Then, just before Sasuke was about to be announced late, there was a flurry of leaves in the middle of the arena. When it died down, it revealed one of the missing genin; Sasuke and Kakashi had teleported to the stadium.

The fight between Gaara and Sasuke started a few minutes later. At first, it seemed to be going very well for the Uchiha. But the tables soon turned when Sasuke used a Chidori, a jutsu that apparently could not penetrate all the way through the Suna-nin's defense. Pulling out, it left the raven with a depleted chakra pool and limited options. In the end it became a stamina battle, and Sasuke simply couldn't outlast Gaara.

"Winner: Subaku no Gaara."

* * *

And that was how Uzumaki Suzume found herself facing Aburame Shino thirty minutes after her first match.

'He fights with kikai, chakra-sucking bugs. With my stamina, I should be fine, but just in case I always have Kyuubi's chakra. Bugs hate fire right? I may not have a taijutsu style to go with it yet, but I can manipulate my chakra into fire just as surely as the sun can shine!' the blonde thought, determined.

The Aburame summoned his bugs. They emerged, just as commanded, and gathered around his arms in a cloud of insects. "You must know, I am not as easy to defeat as my teammate." Shino said. "He severely underestimated you, and that became his downfall. I will not make the same mistake."

"Nobody has seen all of my abilities. You don't know my strengths or weaknesses. I'm the wild card in this exam!" Suzume said, before charging the male.

Throwing a punch directed at the bug-user's face, the blonde was surprised when it was blocked by Shino. Her eyes first widened in surprise before the blonde smirked. "Well well. Looks like you are strong in taijutsu as well." The Uzumaki observed. "How interesting."

The Aburame did not comment, and simply ordered his swarm to surround Suzume. The jinchuuriki eyed the insects out of the corner of her eye for a second before leaping up and performing a spinning kick. Normally, spinning kicks are rather nasty because they add more momentum. The Uzumaki's was a little different in the fact that flame shot out of her foot in an arc, destroying quite a few bugs.

Up on the stands, this one move caused quite the controversy.

Kotetsu's eyes widened. "What the heck?" he muttered to his partner, Izumo.

The other chuunin shook his head in bewilderment. "I have no idea." He replied.

Back down in the arena, Shino drew back a few feet. 'This girl is smart. Uzumaki-san has changed from her academy days. That fire shooting out from her foot…she was creating it from pure chakra, with no hand seals. An impressive feat.'

Again, Suzume moved in for a punch which, this time, skimmed the Aburame's face, just barely missing it. Using her forward momentum, the jinchuuriki placed her hands on the ground, flipped over, and twisted her hips so that her feet slammed into Shino's chest and diaphragm.

Back flipping away, the Uzumaki stood up again and slipped into a relaxed fighting stance.

Shino's eyes narrowed behind his sunglasses. 'Uzumaki-san's taijutsu is quite good. I have to keep her at a distance.' He thought, commanding his bugs to surround Suzume.

The blonde's mouth thinned as she pressed her lips together and considered her options. 'The insects are surrounding me on all sides. Kikaichu are small, so a relatively tiny amount of electricity should destroy their nervous system…' Suzume thought.

A second later, the jinchuuriki found herself surrounded almost completely by Shino's insects. Snarling in a feral manner, her eyes flashed crimson for a moment before a pulse of electricity came off of her body. The bugs either fled or died immeadiatly. Taking advantage of the bug-user's shock, Suzume ran forward in a burst of speed, flipping out a kunai and placing it at the Aburame's neck. "I win." She said in satisfaction.

"Winner: Uzumaki Suzume"

* * *

Shikamaru forfeited immeadiatly. He was, after all, lazy, and had no wish to fight either Suzume or Gaara. After that, there was a thirty minute break in which Suzume relaxed with the members of Team Kurenai, Asuma, Kakashi, and Gai that were not unconscious.

During this, a porcelain mask caught her eye. 'ANBU…' she thought. Looking for more, she was surprised to see at least eight positioned around the stadium. 'And there's probably more I can't sense. What the hell is going on?' Suzume wondered.

Sighing as her name and the Suna shinobi's were called out, the Uzumaki leaped to the ground of the areana. 'I can sense Shukaku inside of him…he is Suna's jinchuuriki, I must be careful of my stamina output. I'll probably use _that._ But my instinct is telling me something bad is going to happen after this match…I have to conserve my energy as much as possible. Yep, _that_ it is.' Suzume thought before enacting her plan.

* * *

Mwahahahahaa! Cliffie! I'm so evil…


	8. Tournament II

Yukihana: Welcome to the chapter eight of Konoha no Gogyou Tokage! I hope you enjoy this.

Hisako: raw66 – Thank you for the compliment. I hope to make the Gaara vs. Suzume fight a memorable one!

Yukihana: I just finished reading the last chapter of Kunoichi from Hell. It is actually a pretty good fic, even if it does have a few grammar errors. I may add some ideas from that story into this one later on. After all, a sadistic Suzume sounds rather appealing…*Mind goes to perverted places*

Hisako: Get your head out of the gutter!

Shikamaru: 2

Shino: 2

Itachi: 7

Neji: 9

Kyuubi: 7

Lee: 1

Gaara: 1

Tournament II

Konoha no Gogyou Tokage

"Kinjutusu:" Suzume said, as she slipped out a small crystal vial decorated by carefully inked seals that had been previously hidden up her sleeve, uncorking it, "Chi Bunshin." (Forbidden Technique: Blood Clone) Immeadiatly the blonde began to release the chakra stored in the vial, causing it to glow a bright blue. The crystal cracked before shattering. The blood fell on the floor of the arena, swirling eerily in the air before condensing and forming a perfect clone of the jinchuuriki.

Looking back at her opponent, the Uzumaki began to explain her technique. "The blood clone technique does the exact same thing as the shadow clone technique except for two important things. One, it uses blood as a medium, instead of pure chakra. Two, it does not dissipate after one hit. Now, the weakness is the same as the Kage Bunshin no Jutsu. It splits the user's chakra evenly among the clones made. Now, I haven't figured out a way to fix this with Kage Bunshin, but I did discover a way to do it with Chi Bunshin. By adding chakra-storing seals to the vial I keep the blood in, I can use this technique by manipulating the chakra I already have stored. Unfortunately, because of the amount of chakra involved, I can only carry one of these without trouble. However, this means I don't have to fight. This clone is an exact copy of me at full strength. Good luck not getting yourself killed!" Suzume chirped, leaping up onto the top of the walls to observe the fight.

(*Note* I will, from here on out, refer to the clone as Suzume until it dissipates.)

The clone nodded to its creator before leaping forward, throwing a simple punch. She was unsurprised when the sand immeadiatly blocked it. Leaping back, the two jinchuuriki observed each other. So alike, yet so different. 'I could have turned out like him…' Suzume realized. Sighing in sadness, she slipped into a comfortable Goken stance.

Gaara winced as Shukaku's voice reverberated throughout his head. **"Predator. She is a predator. Run from the predator!" **The tanuki cried out in increasing volume and fear. The redhead shoved his tenant out of his mind before commanding his sand to crush his opponent. In the back of his mind, Shukaku snorted. **"Fine, but don't expect me to help you against Predator."**

Suzume's comrades watched in apprehension bordering on fear as the sand came closer to the blonde and she did not move, completely forgetting that the kunoichi fighting was not the real thing. At the last possible moment, the Uzumaki rolled out of the way just jumping up and flipping once, beginning to perform her infamous Tsutenkyaku. Her pure blue eyes narrowed as her foot hit the ground. The earth exploded from the point of impact, shaking the ground and completely changing the landscape.

Up on the stands, Ino's jaw dropped. "What the hell?" she shouted. "When did Suzume-baka get so powerful?"

Sakura shook her head in bewilderment. "I knew she had gotten stronger, but this is just insane…" the Haruno replied.

Back on the arena floor, the Uzumaki continued to dodge the sand to the best of her ability. Sticking onto the wall with her chakra, she quickly unclipped the bracelets and anklets she wore on each limb. Suddenly, she felt like she could fly. Suzume had never taken off the chakra weights after she had put them on five months ago. Constantly increasing them so that they were almost as heavy as Lee's, the blonde had pushed her body to the limits to become as fast as her teammate. Thanks to the hellish/insane training she had gone through, the kunoichi could be just as fast as Lee if she wanted.

Rushing toward Gaara, the Leaf-Nin gracefully dodged the sand sent at her, finally getting close enough to the redhead to land a bone-shattering punch that sent the Ichibi vessel flying into the wall, which was now imprinted with a human-shaped hole.

The Suna shinobi stood up slowly. When he and Suzume locked gazes, his eyes were filled with barely disguised bloodlust, and his face had broken out into an insane grin. "Blood…" he murmured. "I will kill you and verify my existence! I will make you scream and the sky rain with blood!" he shouted to the world.

Suzume found her own blood lust rising as her tongue lengthened and spilt at the end. Her pupil turned into a slit and her iris turned into a haunting amber while her fingernails sharpened and became harder then steel. Her face became covered in what looked like face black tattooed scales.

The blonde licked her lips with her forked tongue before raising her killing intent to that of a high jounin. The redhead responded in turn, but his eyes asked the question of why she looked the way she did.

Smirking evilly, Suzume obliged him with an answer. "All of the members of the Lizard Clan have one thing in common: fight lust. As their summoner, don't you think it's natural that I would pick up some of their habits? This is known as the Zokugai Sennin Modo. (Killing Sage Mode) It is similar the Jiraiya of the Sannin's Gama Sennin Modo, (Toad Sage Mode) except instead of gathering energy from the world around us, it turns my blood- and fight-lust into chakra, drawing up reserves that were not there previously. It does, however, have similar effects."

Unsealing Kurohoshi, Suzume pushed her chakra into it, causing the blade to emit a black light. Sprinting towards Gaara, the blonde destroyed any sand that came near her with her chakra blade, super heating the sand and turning it into glass. Swiping at the redhead, the Uzumaki smiled grimly when she sliced open his upper arm.

Gaara gasped. "What is this?" he asked in a creepy voice. "Warm…red…I'm bleeding! BLOOD! MY BLOOD!" he screamed. "Uzumaki Suzume…You are the first person to make me bleed…For this, I will kill you and verify my existence!"

The blonde deadpanned. 'Seriously…this guy is such an idiot.' She thought, leaping back a few feet. Snorting, the kunoichi infused Kurohoshi with more chakra and swung the blade down in an arc. As a crescent of black chakra rushed towards Gaara, Suzume called out, "Kuromikazuki!" (Black Crescent Moon)

Gaara's sand attempted to block Suzume's attack. The key word in that sentence being "Attempted." Most of the sand was immeadiatly turned to glass, and the rest fell away. While Gaara's so-called "Ultimate Defense" bore the brunt of the attack, the Suna shinobi still had his left arm nearly burnt to a crisp by Kurohoshi's chakra.

Suzume resealed her sword, charging her body with electricity that began to wreath her in a deadly shroud. Sprinting up to her opponent, she called out "Kuroraihebi no Mai!" (Dance of the Black Lightning Snake) "Shodaime Mai: Inabikari!" (First Dance: Strike of Lightning). At about two feet away from Gaara, the blonde leaned down on her back hand, causing her foot to catch the Suna shinobi's chin and send him flying far up into the air. Following him, Suzume elbowed his stomach – hard! – sending the redhead back down to earth. Before he hit the ground, the Uzumaki side kicked him, sending Gaara flying.

'How…' the Suna-Nin thought, 'is she so strong?' Cracking open an eye, he was surprised to see the blonde, though a little unsteady on her feet, was still standing, walking over to him. "How…" he asked, croaking out his question. "Shukaku was scared of you…how are you so strong?"

Suzume looked down on her defeated opponent sadly. 'He really doesn't understand…I guess I should help you, fellow jinchuuriki Gaara.'

The blonde sighed and closed her eyes. "Only when you have something precious to protect – be it a belief, a person, or a place – can you become truly strong. That is why you have failed here. You have no reason to continue besides your orders. And even there, do you have conviction to follow through with them? I don't think so. Whatever happened to make you the way you are, suck it up and get over it. The past is the past, and all we can do is learn from it." Opening her eyes again, Suzume glared at Gaara. "And I swear, I may not want to kill you, but if you so much as scratch another person from this village again, I'll murder you in the most painful way possible." The Uzumaki said, her gaze turning into something that could freeze an iceberg.

'Such conviction, willpower, and fire in her eyes…it's amazing. A sparrow that will always fly free…is that what you are, Suzume?' the Suna-Nin wondered before slipping into unconsciousness.

The clone was dismissed by its master, and it disappeared, replaced by a puddle of blood.

"Winner: Uzumaki Suzume."


	9. Kannabi

Yukihana: Yay! New chapter.

Hisako: I hope you enjoy the fruits of my labor.

Yukihana: To toocool4ice - *blushes* thank you very much. I hope you enjoy the rest of the story.

Hisako: P.S. The title means "Where the Gods Do Not Help"

Shikamaru: 2

Shino: 2

Itachi: 8

Neji: 10

Kyuubi: 7

Lee: 1

Gaara: 1

Kannabi

Konoha no Gogyou Tokage

The Kazekage's eyes widened. 'How…' he thought. 'Gaara was defeated by a mere genin..! Impossible!' Forcing himself to calm down, the Kazekage made a simple hand signal.

All hell broke loose.

((((((((((((((((((((()))))))))))))))))))))))))))))

Suzume's eyes narrowed as she felt a prickle of chakra flow around the stadium. She gasped as the building beside the Kage's box became encompassed in some sort of purple barrier. Noticing the Suna and Oto Nin attacking the Leaf, there was really only one conclusion she could come too.

'Konoha is under attack!' the blonde thought 'Suna and Oto betrayed us!'

There was no time to think; her home was in danger. Leaping out of the stadium, the Uzumaki quickly looked for a place to hide. She did not find one, unfortunately, before she ran into a Sound chuunin. Disposing of him after a few minutes, the kunoichi was about to forge on when she heard a large crashing noise, signifying the arrival of a giant three-headed snake.

The jinchuuriki panicked for a moment. 'Damnit! Summons that large could kill tons of people!' Eyes flashing in determination, she changed course and sprinted towards the summon, leaping off of rooftops and balconies along the way.

Once she got to the area, Suzume quickly analyzed the situation. 'Hn…To crush a summon that big, I'll need a lizard.' Smirking, the blonde bit on her thumb, drew back her sleeve, and wiped the blood across the lizard tattoo. 'I lied. This is a summoning tattoo. Sorry Anko!'

One poof of smoke later and Suzume had accomplished her goal of squashing a snake by summoning a giant green lizard wearing a single gold hoop earring.

((((((((((((((((((((((()))))))))))))))))))))))))))

Ibiki stared at the space that used to be filled with a snake and was now filled with a lizard.

"Yo, Ibiki!" Suzume called from her perch on top of her summon. "How's it going?"

The Morino snorted. "A lot better now that the serpent's gone."

The blonde smirked before leaping over next to the T&I expert, dismissing her lizard. "Meh." She said. "See ya later, Scarface!" she shouted before leaping away.

Ibiki smiled fondly. "You'd better not die brat…" he muttered.

(((((((((((((((((((((((((((())))))))))))))))))))))))))))))

The streets were quickly filled with blood and the clash of kunai against kunai. 'War…' Suzume thought sadly. 'This is bad…'

Suddenly, she felt the prick of a kunai underneath her chin. 'How?' she thought, turning slightly so she could see her assailant, studying him. 'His chakra is pretty small, so he's a stealth specialist' she thought. The man was average, with brown hair and eyes, and carried an Otogakure hitai-ate.

Her left hand, which, luckily, was right by the man's chest, was immeadiatly charged with chakra before being shoved with lightning speed into his heart. Suzume stood up and leaped down into the street. Uncovering her Byakugan, the blonde threw a barrage of kunai at the closest shinobi, who went down with the help of a Leaf Chuunin.

Quickly pulling off her weights, the Uzumaki charged a Suna-Nin. Ducking under a kunai, she landed a strike on his left lung, almost completely collapsing it. The enemy hacked up some blood before attempting to hit her with a chakra-infused punch. Suzume snorted at the shinobi's incompetence, unsealed Kurohoshi, and hacked him down.

Almost immeadiatly, she was surrounded by three Oto-Nin. Smirking darkly, the blonde smirked before calling out "Shugohakke, Rokujuyon Sho: Mizui Hari!" (Protector of the Eight Trigrams, Sixty-Four Palms: Water Needles)

Suzume began to perform the movements Hinata had shown during the chuunin exams. However, unlike Hinata, she had mastered all aspects of the technique; offensive and defensive. So, instead of a net of chakra, the blonde condensed nearby water vapor into needles. The effect was a near-constant barrage of needles that only stopped when the water in the vicinity ran out.

By that time, the Uzumaki had severely injured the three shinobi; they weren't much of a problem after that.

(((((((((((((((((((((((()))))))))))))))))))))))))))

The next few hours were a haze of blood and pain. Suzume had just hidden underneath a balcony to catch a breather when a shinobi with white hair and round glasses watched her, a smirk on his face. Turning to the Oto-nin next to him, Kabuto murmured into his ear, "Put Uzumaki Suzume in the Bingo Book under a B-class threat with the nickname of…." Here, Kabuto's smirk widened, "Konoha no Gogyou Tokage…"

((((((((((((((((((())))))))))))))))))

Suzume sighed heavily before leaping down to join the fighting. Quickly turning her chakra earth-natured, she slammed an Oto-Nin through the wall of a nearby apartment building. A leaf chuunin muttered a quick thanks to her before he went back to fighting. The blonde shrugged, whirling around and dealing a spear strike to a Suna kunoichi who had been trying to sneak up on her. Quickly unsealing her sword while the enemy was still in a state of partial paralysis, the Uzumaki sliced her throat.

Seeing another one she briefly thought 'Do they ever end?' before slipping into the Hakke stance.

"You are within the range of my divination." Suzume intoned. "Hakke Sanbyakurokujuichi Shiki!" (Eight Trigrams Three Hundred Sixty-One Palms)

Blurring out of sight, the blonde closed off all of the tenketsu on her enemy. At the end, she was depleted of chakra and the Suna-nin died instantly.

'Damn this all to hell!' she thought, pulling her hands into a "Snake" seal. "Ninpou: Tenchikara Fuuin, Kai!" (Ninja Art: Heavenly Chakra Seal, Release!). The jinchuuriki felt her diamond studs become warm before they released all the chakra she had stored over the past six months.

An observer would be surprised by the black markings that appeared on her face; they formed spirals and curved lines, giving her an exotic look for a moment before they faded away. (Those of you, who cannot imagine this, think like the markings Tsunade gets when she releases that diamond-thingy of hers except black)

Suzume's chakra system was now filled to the brink with energy. After all, storing up chakra for several months can lead to quite a supply of the stuff. Grinning maliciously, she proceeded to engage a chuunin in combat.

Her opportunity came when the enemy made a stupid mistake; he left his chest open with no way to guard it. The Uzumaki took full advantage of this, charging her right fist with wind chakra and punching the man's chest. Needless to say, fist went straight through the enemy's body, killing him instantly.

((((((((((((((((((((((((()))))))))))))))))))))))))

Finally, the fighting began to stop. Suzume gazed around the alleyways of Konoha, spattered with blood, gore, and dead bodies before returning to the stadium.


	10. The Namikuji Sannin

Yukihana: To all of my readers: Thank you SOOO much for reading this, favoriting, alerting, and reviewing this story.

Hisako: Itachi and Kisame did not go to Konoha in this-therefore; Sasuke didn't know where he was.

Yukihana: The scene where Jiraiya was gambling on dice? I totally ripped that off from Toph in Avatar: The Last Airbender.

Yukihana: And a note to all: The poll will close at the end of the Sasuke Retrieval Arc.

Shikamaru: 4

Shino: 2

Itachi: 11

Neji: 12

Kyuubi: 9

Lee: 1

Gaara: 3

The Namikuji Sannin

Konoha no Gogyou Tokage

Sarutobi Hiruzen's death hit Suzume hard. He had been the only one who had believed in her when she was young, the only thing that prevented her from falling into the endless and inescapable chasm of insanity. He had been her anchor, the reason for her loyalty to Konohagakure no Sato and Hi no Kuni.

She couldn't bring herself to come to the funeral-she was already having a hard enough time coping without watching other people fall apart. So she stayed home. Okay, not really.

The Uzumaki had picked up quite a few bad habits in the past few months besides battle lust. Gambling and drinking had been two. She paid for the latter with the former. Suzume had yet to lose to anybody in any sort of gamble, and had gained quite a few ryou through it. Needless to say, the blonde spent the next day or so completely wasted inside of various gambling dens.

The third day was simply spent moping and reminiscing about the past until she heard a knock on her door. Suzume got up and opened it, extremely surprised when it revealed the Sannin Jiraiya. "What do you want Jiraiya-san?" she asked bluntly. The blonde was not in a good mood and had no wish for visitors of any kind.

The Gama Sennin sighed. "Can't I at least come in?"

The blonde shrugged, but opened the door.

"Thanks." Jiraiya said as he sat down on her couch. Suzume sat down on the chair across from him before speaking her mind. "Like I said, what do you want?"

The older man's mouth thinned. "I didn't think you were alive."

The Uzumaki's eyebrow rose. "And that would matter why, exactly?"

"You didn't actually think the Yondaime would have left you without a guardian, did you? Both me and Tsunade were assigned as your god parents."

"Nani?"

"Sarutobi-sensei said you were dead. He had your best interests in mind, but I don't think you lived the life he wanted you to."

Suzume looked down so that her bangs shadowed her face. "No." she whispered. "I don't suppose I did."

"But," Jiraiya said, "Now that I know you are alive, I suppose it isn't really proper not to tell Tsunade about this."

Suzume folded her hands in front of her mouth in a very Sasuke-like manner. "You're telling the truth, but there's something more. Now that Sandaime Hokage-jiji is dead, you need a Godaime. You aren't really suited for the job because of your irresponsibility. You want Tsunade to be the Godaime, and you're using me as a tool to persuade her to come back."

The Sannin raised both of his eyebrows. "You're a sharp one. Your assumption was correct. It was either Tsunade or Kakashi."

At the mention of the Copy Nin's name, Suzume frowned. "Do not speak of that man in front of me." She ordered in a clipped tone.

Jiraiya blinked in surprise. 'Huh? Why does she hate Hatake?' he wondered. "Ahem. Anyways. There is also the matter of Sarutobi-sensei's will."

"Will?" Suzume muttered in confusion.

The Gama Sennin nodded. "He left you two scrolls. I have no idea what's in them. Anyways, we have to get going in thirty minutes. Meet me at the north gate at that time."

The blonde's eyes narrowed. "Give them here." She said.

Jiraiya shrugged, before pulling out two scrolls and tossing them to Suzume. "There ya go." He said. "Remember, the north gate in thirty minutes." He said before disappearing in a puff of smoke.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

And, just as the Sannin had ordered, the kunoichi was at the north gate in thirty minutes exactly. She raised an elegant blonde eyebrow at the Sannin when he showed up five minutes later. "Well." He said, "Shall we go?"

The Uzumaki snorted, following Jiraiya as he exited the gates.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

Suzume felt her eyebrow twitch dangerously as Jiraiya walked off with some civilian woman. 'Ero-sennin…' she thought, 'You are such an idiot!' Sighing in a futile attempt to control her rage, she turned around and got the two of them hotel rooms. _Separate _hotel rooms. Muttering under her breath, she walked up the stairs and plopped down on her futon.

Unrolling the first scroll, she began to read it.

_Dear Suzu-chan,_

_If you are reading this, then I'm dead. Don't take it too hard, it was bound to happen sooner or later. After all, I am an old man, as you consistently pointed out. I would put some inspirational speech in here if I thought you would read it. You'd just call me an idiot if I did, however. _

_On the other hand, I have something of grave importance to tell you. You are the only person besides the councilors and I that knows the truth of the Uchiha Massacre by Uchiha Itachi._

_After the massacre, I sent Itachi to spy on an organization named Akatsuki. He joined the group immeadiatly and began sending me information on it. Akatsuki is currently compromised of nine S-Class criminals, which originally numbered ten before Orochimaru left the group. Their goal is a frightening one-control of the ninja world. They plan to gain this through capturing all of the tailed beasts and extracting them, a process which will kill the jinchuuriki. This is a warning to you. Be extremely careful-you are nowhere near the strength you need to match any of them at the moment._

_What I need you to do is act as an in between agent for Itachi and the Godaime. In the other scroll are two letters; one of the Godaime and one for Itachi._

_Another thing: I know of your elemental taijutsu and I will freely admit that it is extremely unique and clever; nobody but you could have figured it out. For your Katon taijutsu, you know the answer; you just don't want to acknowledge it. You have buried all of your knowledge and memories of Itachi under blissful ignorance. I can understand that you don't want to face your emotions that surround the man and that night. But you are undermining yourself by not using the knowledge and the taijutsu style that he taught you- the Tobikaji-ryu. (Flying Fire Style) You know this as well as I do, so don't pretend you have no clue as to what I'm speaking of._

_Also, on a happier note, I have sealed the crystal ball that I used to observe the whole village with in the second scroll as well. I still remember how pissed it made you that I could stop most of your pranks before they happened. You use it by channeling you chakra through it and focusing on a particular chakra signature._

_Good luck in the future. Make Konohagakure proud. Become a strong kunoichi and protector; I know you can do it._

_Love,_

_Sarutobi Hiruzen_

Suzume felt a tear trickle down her cheek. 'Hokage-jiji…' she thought sadly. 'But he's right. I'm only holding myself back by refusing to use Ita-chan's taijutsu. I guess I should get used to the movements again…But first, I need to figure out where he is so I know how to give him his letter' the blonde thought as she gave a cursory glance at the second scroll. She quickly unsealed the crystal ball and channeled chakra through it, causing it to glow blue before it cleared.

The ball showed Itachi wearing a black cloak decorated with red clouds, accompanied by a blue-colored, shark-like man dressed in a similar fashion that had a bandaged sword slung over his back. To her surprise, the two shinobi were standing right outside of the hotel she was in. 'Ita-chan must have figured out where I was somehow…' Suzume realized.

"I'll go in alone. Stay here, Kisame." The Uchiha ordered. Sushi grunted in annoyance, but stayed put. Itachi pulled a conical straw hat out of his cloak and donned it before entering the hotel.

Suzume put down the crystal orb, grabbed the second scroll, and unsealed the letter for Itachi. She stepped out of her door and walked down to the hotel lobby. When the jinchuuriki got there, she nodded in acknowledgement to the older shinobi. "Hello Ita-chan!" she murmured cheerfully.

The nukenin smirked slightly. "Hello, Suzume." He said. "Do you have it?"

The Uzumaki nodded, handing the letter to Itachi. "There you go, Ita-chan. You should leave soon, or Ero-Sennin might find you."

The Uchiha's smirk widened. "Of course, Suzume." He murmured, patting the kunoichi on the head. "I'll see you soon." He murmured. "Very soon."

The blonde snorted. "See ya later, Ita-chan."

"Goodbye for now, Suzume." Itachi said, before leaving the lobby. The kunoichi shook her head in slight wonder, going back up to her room.

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"I am the Great Jiraiya, Sage of Myobokuzan! Woman flock to me in their millions! I will not be fooled by a simple genjutsu!"

"Would you shut the fuck_ up, _Ero-Sennin?" Suzume growled.

The Gama Sennin blinked owlishly, staring at the blonde in front of him. "Eh? There's no one here?"

The blonde snorted. "Of course not. What gave you that idiotic idea?" she said, blatantly lying through her teeth.

Scratching his head in confusion, he muttered "I could have sworn…" under his breath.

"Anyways!" he shouted, clapping his hands together. "I have a jutsu I want to teach you!"

The Uzumaki merely raised an eyebrow. "You're teaching _me _a jutsu?" she asked in confusion and slight disbelief.

"Well of course!" Jiraiya said, "It's my way of repaying you for helping me out with this mission. It's called Rasengan, by the way. Let's go outside, this might get a little bit messy."

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"Alright!" the Gama Sennin said, still scarily cheerful. "There are three steps to learning this technique. The first one is this-!" he said, as dramatic music suddenly started playing and he pulled out two…

Water balloons!

Suzume raised her eyebrows, unimpressed.

"Don't look at me like that!" the Sannin said. "The first step is to burst this water balloon using only chakra." He announced, before holding out his water balloon and bursting it within seconds. "This step represents the rotation for the technique. Don't worry if you don't get it right away, it's pretty hard."

The blonde glared at the Gama Sennin. "Shaddap Ero-Sennin! I'll finish this step by the end of the day!"

Jiraiya smirked. "Is that a bet?"

"It sure as hell is. 1000 ryou."

"Deal."

The two shook on it. Jiraiya shook his head and walked away. Just as he was about to turn the corner, he heard a large explosion. Whirling around, he felt a bead of sweat slide down his face. 'Damn…that's kind of scary…' he thought.

Walking back to the kunoichi, he handed her a stack of bills, looking at them regretfully. "Ahem…The next step involves a rubber ball." The Gama Sennin said as he pulled out the before mentioned object. "The objective is the same as the first step: burst the ball. Since this is a hollow rubber ball, it is much harder to burst. This represents the control for the technique." Jiraiya dropped the ball on his palm, focused his chakra for a few seconds, and burst the ball with a loud _pop._ "Good luck on this."

Suzume took the second ball and began to focus her chakra. 'Rubber is much thicker than a balloon, and air is much harder to manipulate with chakra. This uses the same sort of control as the first step, except it uses much more power and chakra.'

Closing her eyes, she concentrated. 'Feel the chakra,' she told herself. 'Feel the flow. Channel it through the ball. Then rotate it. Fast and powerful, fast and powerful!'

The Uzumaki pushed the chakra outward, doing her best to cause the ball to explode. The rubber stretched a little bit, but was nowhere near to popping.

'Damn,' she thought, 'this is going to take a while.'

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It was the next afternoon that Suzume finally managed to explode the balloon. And yeah, it was definitely an explosion. There was a large boom that was probably heard throughout the whole town. Jiraiya nearly jumped out of his skin when he heard it. 'That Suzume is really something else…' he thought with a wry grin as he walked back to the hotel.

Once he got there, he pulled out a normal balloon. "The third step," he told Suzume, "is all about combining the previous steps and adding another factor: control. This step requires you to create the whirling mass of chakra and the same amount of power, but instead of popping the balloon, you want to control your chakra so that you form the Rasengan inside of the balloon. When you master this step, you will be able to form the Rasengan and use it in battle." Holding out his hand palm up, he preformed the step perfectly. "Without the balloon, the Rasengan should look like this." The Sannin said as he popped the balloon with his free hand, revealing a perfect sphere created by an almost artful rotation of chakra.

Suzume nodded, crossing her arms and taking on a superior expression. "Well, you can actually do something useful. That's a first."

"Hey!"

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Unfortunately for our blue-eyed wonder, Jiraiya found a lead on Tsunade's location, so Suzume had to work on the third step on the road. It was annoying, having to watch out for obstacles on the road and focus on rotating her chakra at the same time, though the blonde would freely admit it probably did wonders for her chakra control.

The next memorable place they stopped at was a gambling den in a town named Fujikaze. Jiraiya had walked up to one of the dealers, and Suzume had stuck to the shadows, quietly observing the conversation.

"So…I'm looking for a teenager. Wears a green kimono with pink trim, shoulder-length blonde hair done up in a high ponytail, honey-brown eyes. Sound familiar?"

"Well, around here, gambling is our lifeblood. You want information? You're going to have to gamble for it. How about this…100 ryou for each time you lose." The dealer said, pulling out a cup and two die. "You know the rules for dice. Pick."

"Even."

The dealer shrugged, shook the cup, and dropped the dice on the table. The cup, when pulled up, revealed a five and a six.

In the background, Suzume snorted. Charging her foot with a small amount of earth chakra, she stomped on the ground, flipping over the five and replacing it with a two. Jiraiya blinked, barely believing his luck. 'Perfect timing, Suzume. Nice one.' He thought.

"Well then. About that girl…"

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An hour later, the two leaf-nin found themselves just outside of Tanzaku no Sato.

"We are now one step closer to the end of our journey!" Jiraiya shouted, extending his hand toward the castle at the back of the town.

Suzume gave him a stare that clearly meant _are you serious? _, saying "You're a Sannin, Jiraiya. Yet you go around screaming like a schoolgirl and manage to be even more annoying then Sasuke-teme. That takes effort, you know."

The Gama Sennin pouted.

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A voluptuous blond-haired woman looked around warily. 'I never win.' She thought. 'This is bad…' Whirling around, she yelled "Shizune!" before rushing out the door. When her assistant finally caught up to her, Tsunade began speaking again. "We're leaving. Now!"

The younger woman frowned. "Can't we at least see the castle before we leave?" she protested.

Konoha no Namikuji Tsunade-Hime (Konoha's Slug Princess Tsunade) sighed. "Fine! But quickly!"

And that was how the two medic kunoichi had found themselves where they were at the moment.

Tsunade glared angrily at her former teammate and his accomplice, while Shizune kept her finger on her senbon launcher.

Orochimaru chuckled, and Kabuto smirked.

"I need you to do me a favor." The Hebi Sannin said.

'Erratic heartbeat, his face looks pale and feverish, and those arms…' Tsunade observed, already diagnosing the nukenin's problem.

"I'm sure you've already figured it out." Kabuto said. "We'd get somebody else, but you, Tsunade-sama of the Dantetsu no Sannin alone can cure it."

"That wound on your arm is not normal…." The blonde pointed out. 'Is it some sort of secret seal or curse?' she wondered. "What did you do to it?"

The nukenin smirked. "It's just a little memento from when I killed the Sandaime."

"You really are…" Tsunade murmured, snarling at the Hebi Sannin.

"Now now, Tsunade, don't give me that look. Everything with form is destined to crumble. It is the same with people. You should know this, as you have lost two of your most beloved."

Kabuto's eyes widened slightly. 'She lost the two people she loved most? Orochimaru-sama…you are very cruel.'

"Ahh…" Orochimaru murmured, smiling cruelly, "Those were most certainly horrible ways to die…"

Shizune growled at the traitor as she pulled up her right sleeve and prepared her senbon shooter. She quickly released the five needles, sending them flying towards Orochimaru. Kabuto moved just as fast, blocking five senbon and catching one. 'These are poisoned…' he realized as he watched a sickly green liquid drip off of the weapon.

"Calm down Shizune." The blonde medic ordered.

'That lieutenant…she's good.' Kabuto observed.

Tsunade chuckled. "Hmph. You haven't changed a bit, have you Orochimaru? You know how I am, don't you? Don't kid around with me." Suddenly, her expression morphed from carefree to furious as her fist smashed into the wall behind her, causing it to crumble. "I'll…kill you!"

'Destructive!' Kabuto shouted in his mind as he leaped away from the shockwave. 'And fearsome. She's single. Definitely single.' (Hey, it's in the English Manga!) "We're not here to fight. We're here to negotiate."

"I said it once. Get out of my sight."

"You're the only one who can cure his arms!" Kabuto protested. "We're not saying it will be a one-way bargain. Can't we make a deal?"

"I'll give you to the count of five. You'd better be gone by then, or else!"

"Please, calm down! It will be a good barga-!"

"5."

"4."

"3."

"2."

"1."

"I can revive your brother and the man you loved with the forbidden seal I have developed." Orochimaru offered.

Tsunade paled. "You haven't killed us yet." The Hebi Sannin said. "Does this mean we have a deal?"

The blonde medic looked down, her eyes slit eyes.

"Don't you want to see them again? Tsunade?" the nukenin said, pushing his former teammate into his bargain.

'Nawaki…Dan…' Konoha no Namikuji Tsunade-Hime thought, remembering the names of her loved ones. "If I agree to your bargain…what will you do?"

"I hate to lie to you…I will destroy the leaf."

Shizune's eyes widened. "What? Destroy Konohagakure no Sato?" Turning to her mistress when she didn't immeadiatly reply, she shouted "Tsunade-sama! You shouldn't listen to the offers of these liars! Your brother and my uncle wouldn't want you to do it either! Are the wishes of two people worth more than your dreams and wishes? Have you forgotten them, Tsunade-sama? I understand, yet even if reality is like this-!"

"Shut up Shizune!" Tsunade ordered.

"Like I said earlier, we hope to come to a peaceful resolution. Also, the jutsu needs a sacrifice of two living people, which you must supply…"

Orochimaru smiled grimly. "We should get going Kabuto. Tsunade…we anxiously await your consent."

Tsunade looked down at her hand fisted around her necklace, on the verge of crying. Shizune stared at her wordlessly.

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It took another hour to find where Tsunade actually was. When Jiraiya and Suzume entered the pub she was in, the Namikuji Sannin was already half drunk.

"So…Why are you here anyways, Jiraiya?"

The Gama Sennin sighed. "To tell the truth, Konoha has issued a request for you to become the Godaime Hokage."

Both Shizune's and Tsunade's eyes widened.

"The Sandaime was killed…."

Tsunade nodded. "I heard."

"So your answer..?"

Tsunade closed her eyes briefly, remembering her earlier talk with Orochimaru. "I decline…It's impossible."

Jiraiya snorted. "I remember in the past, you used to say the same thing when I asked you out on a date."

The blonde medic chuckled. "Life isn't money. It can't be gambled that easily. Anybody who does so is a fool. The Shodaime and Nidaime were so focused on attaining peace that they died in the middle of their dreams. It's no wonder Sarutobi died-he was too old to live in his dreams."

The Gama Sennin growled lowly at his former teammate.

"The job of Hokage is worthless. Anybody that would want such a stupid position is completely and utterly foolish."

That was the breaking point for Suzume. But she was smart enough to know that there was no point in yelling at the kunoichi across from her. Instead, she took out her immediate frustrations on the full sake bottle she was holding it by crushing it in her hand. Standing up and getting out of her seat, she called, "I'm going to go now, Jiraiya." In a clipped and icy tone.

"Wait." The Gama Sennin said. "Shizune, could you go book a few hotel rooms for us? I'm going to talk to Tsunade for a while."

The brunette nodded as the thought, 'Jiraiya…It's up to you.'

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"So…when are you going to meet up with Orochimaru?" Jiraiya asked.

Tsunade's eyes widened as she turned to face her fellow Sannin.

"I could tell from Shizune's facial expressions. But…you shouldn't make such hasty decisions. Whatever he offered you, I want to make one thing clear. The past Hokage protected Konohagakure with their lives. They were willing to bet their lives on that dream. You should understand how they felt. If you do anything to betray Konoha…I'll kill you."

"It has nothing to do with me."

"Only a murderer would show no emotion in the event of a friend or family member's death. You aren't like that, are you?"

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A WEEK LATER…..

"Oi, Suzume, wake up!"

The jinchuuriki blinked the sleep from her eyes as her vision cleared. "Eh, Shizune? What's up?"

The brunette smiled slightly. "You were sleeping like a rock. Are you okay?"

"Don't worry about me. I'm fine. By the way, what day is it today?"

Tsunade's assistant paled. 'Oh no…Today's the day when Tsunade-sama will meet Orochimaru..!'

"Suzume-chan, stay in the room!" she ordered as she began to exit the hotel through the window, but stopped when a kunai hit the wood beside her head. Looking in the direction that the weapon had come from, Shizune's eyes widened when she saw Jiraiya in an absolutely deplorable condition.

The Gama Sennin leaned against the window sill before speaking. "That damn Tsunade…she poisoned my sake. I can't feel my chakra and my whole body stings. I can't even hold chopsticks."

Suzume snorted. "And you're always talking about what an amazing ninja you are. This is pathetic, you lame-ass!"

Jiraiya glared at the blonde. "Even in her fallen state she's still the best medic known to man. She's one of the few people that can make an odorless, tasteless, poison. Even though I was drunk, to catch me off guard like that…she hasn't lost much of her skill, that's for sure."

Across the road, an Oto-nin crouched behind a wall. 'For Jiraiya-sama to be here…that alone turns things sour. But for Suzume-kun to be here as well…this may get messy. I'll have to report this to Orochimaru-sama immeadiatly.'

Back on the roof, Suzume looked sideways at Shizune. "You know…I think it's time you told us what exactly happened with Orochimaru."

The brunette bit her bottom lip. "I wanted to believe in Tsunade-sama, so I didn't say anything. But…we don't have much time! I'll explain on the way there. Follow me!"

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Inside the castle walls, Orochimaru and Tsunade stood opposite each other.

"Your response?"

"I will heal your arms…if you keep them away from Konoha."

"Agreed."

The two former teammates walked closer to each other. When they were within arm's length, Tsunade activated a technique. But before the orb of chakra could touch Orochimaru, a kunai shot from one of the tiled roofs and forced the Sannin to separate. The thrower of the kunai, Kabuto, landed behind Orochimaru.

"What is this…" the nukenin said, enraged. "To come so far and betray me, Tsunade-hime! I trust Kabuto and his expertise in the medical field. You on the other hand…You know, I really did intend to revive those two and I even promised not to harm Konohagakure."

Tsunade chuckled. "I knew the part about not touching the Leaf was a lie. But to see those two again, to hear them, to touch them…But I'll really be able to see Nawaki and Dan again...The moment I felt that on my lips, I realized I was a total fool." She was crying now. "Those two's faces, from just remembering them…to think that I've become this blind….I loved them. I still love them! I want to see and hug them. But their dreams were the same; they both wanted to be Hokage. The dream that those two bet their lives on-seeing that come true was my wish. You've said that all things with form decay. Only this feeling-love-will never decay."

"So the deal is off then. I suppose I have no choice.

Tsunade glared at her former teammate before performing an ax kick, causing the land around her to turn into a crater. "Here I come…OROCHIMARU!"

The Hebi Sannin chuckled. "Now that I think about it, I've never fought you before."

"I'll kill you right now, you bastards!" the Namikuji Sannin shouted as she pulled off her robe and slammed her fist into the wall where the two Oto-nin had been standing.

Leaping back, Kabuto turned slightly to Orochimaru. "This place is too enclosed. We have to get to somewhere with more open space." The nukenin nodded in agreement, and they both leaped across the rooftops, away from the pissed Senju.

She followed them until they got to a grassy field, where she caused another crater with a missed punch. All three combatants were breathing hard.

'Tsunade-sama seems short of breath.' Kabuto thought as he popped a soldier pill into his mouth and disappeared.

A few seconds later, a hand burst from the ground underneath the kunoichi. Leaping up, the Namikuji Sannin slammed her fist down into the hole that Kabuto was formerly in, while said shinobi rolled out of the way.

Kabuto quickly preformed a series of hand seals, forming chakra scalpels. Carefully dodging Tsunade's attacks, he placed his scalpels on her chest and left leg.

The two shinobi broke apart, and the pain caused Konoha no Namikuji Tsunade-Hime to crouch down low to the ground to keep her balance. 'So this kid can use medical techniques…' she realized. 'And he's rather good with them too…To be able to cut my muscle like this is very impressive.'

The Oto-nin quickly dodged between Tsunade's taijutsu again, landing another hit to the muscles around her respiratory area.

"Well." He said. "Orochimaru-sama wants you alive, so I didn't aim for the neck. Either way, you shouldn't be able to move around right now.

The Namikuji Sannin smirked, blurring behind the younger medic and elbowing him in the back, hard, sending him flying.

'Most impressive.' Kabuto thought. 'Either the jutsu didn't work properly or she has ungodly stamina…either way, I need to get serious.' But as he tried to move his hand, his leg twitched. 'What? This isn't caused by the muscles-it's caused by the nervous system! How-!' his thoughts were cut off as Tsunade punched him in the cheek, causing him to go airborne.

Tsunade chuckled. "You seem to have realized…I turned my chakra into electricity, scrambling the signals of your nervous system."

Orochimaru smirked darkly. 'To have spent so many years away from battle and still be this strong…you are truly impressive, Tsunade.'

The Namikuji Sannin herself went through a series of seals. 'Healing it all the way through would take too much chakra…' she thought as she healed the injury in her breathing area.

Kabuto's eyes narrowed. 'I can use eighty percent of my body…' he thought, getting up stiffly, pulling out a kunai, and beginning to swing it in an arc down to his arm. He stopped however, when a puff of smoke appeared on the battlefield, revealing Shizune, TonTon, Jiraiya, and Suzume.

"Ah…You haven't changed any." Jiraiya said. "Still have those wild eyes…"

Kabuto smirked. "Suzume-kun..."

The jinchuuriki shook her head. "I always knew something was wrong with you. Never would have tacked you off as a traitor, however."

The Oto-nin smiled grimly. "You always were smarter then you acted, Suzume-kun."

"I'll take that as a compliment."

"Anyways…Orochimaru-sama, could you take off your left bandage?" The silver-haired boy asked.

Jiraiya closed his eyes momentarily before opening them. "Heh. Shizune, is there anything you can do about the poison?"

"Sorry, I can't do anything by myself."

"Alright, I guess I'll have to go like this." He said, biting his thumb and performing the Kuchiyose at the same time as Kabuto. Problem was, he summoned Gamakichi, not Gamabunta, while Kabuto summoned two large snakes.

"I'll take Jiraiya." Orochimaru said from atop his snake. "The rest of them are yours." Kabuto nodded in agreement before the two snake summons rushed towards the four shinobi. Luckily, each of them leaped out of the way so none of them were crushed.

Jiraiya flipped through a few handseals, placed his hand on the ground and called out "Doton: Kawa no Yomi!" (I know it's written differently in the manga, but it means the same thing. Earth Release: Swamp of the Underworld)

Meanwhile, Shizune threw a volley of poisoned senbon at Kabuto, who managed to dodge and place a chakra scalpel on the brunette's chest.

"Ninpou: Dokugiri!" (Ninja Art: Poison Mist) Shizune called out as a cloud of purple gas exuded from her mouth. Kabuto dodged by going underground and grabbing Tsunade's ankles when he resurfaced, severing the muscle there too.

Orochimaru extended his neck in an attempt to hit Jiraiya, who called out "Hari Jizou!" (Needle Jizou) before he was encased in a large coil of steel-sharp and -hard hair.

'Damnit!' the Gama Sennin thought as Orochimaru bit his neck.

Kabuto quickly knocked Shizune out with an elbow to the neck. Tsunade paled. 'No…No…No, she can't be dead!' she told herself as she looked over her apprentice's body. The slug summoner didn't even notice when the white-haired boy tried to punch her.

The Oto-nin blinked when he felt his fist gripped in a firm hand. 'Tsunade was weak-that's not her hand.' But smiled grimly when he saw that it was Suzume who had entered the fight. "Finally got pissed enough to start fighting?"

"You bet." The Uzumaki said.

Tsunade's eyes widened. "NO! I may not know your name, but I know this is a battle you cannot win! Get out of here!"

Suzume smiled grimly. "Nah…This is a mission that is beneficial to our village….for that fact alone, I would happily die!"

"Hehe…You were always the philosophic one, weren't you?" Kabuto said, ripping his hand out of the jinchuuriki's grasp and backing up.

"That doesn't matter now. Eat shit!" Suzume shouted as her fist began to glow with chakra. Kabuto's eyes widened in slight surprise as he flipped backward, immeadiatly grateful for his decision as the ground beneath the Uzumaki's fist exploded.

The Oto-nin looked down. "To have strength on the level of Tsunade at such a young age…You are truly an impressive kunoichi, Suzume."

The taijutsu specialist chuckled darkly. "Enhanced strength isn't my only ability, you know." She said as she threw off all of her weights and uncovered her Byakugan, activating it.

Kabuto's eyes narrowed. "You must protect it in some way…" he murmured.

"Quite correct. There is a seal written on the inside of my hitai-ate that will destroy the Byakugan when I die. An unfortunate side-effect of this is that it consumes much more chakra to use while my hitai-ate is covering it."

Up on his snake, Orochimaru eyed the unprotected Tsunade. 'Now is my chance!' he realized, leaping off his snake and bringing out Kusanagi at a perfect angle to skewer the medic.

Suzume whirled around as she saw Orochimaru's attack. 'No!' she thought, 'I can't let that happen!' Her mind made up, the Uzumaki pushed as much chakra as possible into her legs, only hoping she wasn't too late.

Both of Tsunade's hands went to her mouth after taking in the sight in front of her. Suzume had gotten there in time to prevent Kusanagi from hitting the Namikuji Sannin, but, in the process, took the sword through the left side of her stomach.

Orochimaru frowned as he ripped the sword out of the girl's stomach. "I didn't mean to hit you, you know. If you would just step aside…."

"Like hell I'll step aside, bastard!" the jinchuuriki shouted as she snapped an earth chakra-enhanced kick into the nukenin's jaw, sending him flying. Jumping up behind him, Suzume quickly opened the first and second gates before pulling out a roll of bandages and using chakra to wrap them around Orochimaru. The Hebi Sannin, in his deteriorated state, was nowhere near as fast as he normally was, allowing the jinchuuriki to finish her technique. Rotating at an inhuman speed, Suzume kicked off of the man's back at the last possible second, escaping the large impact that she would have sustained.

Suzume landed next to Tsunade, panting heavily. Focusing some of the Kyuubi's chakra into her hand, she placed it on her wound, speeding up the healing process.

"Why…" Tsunade muttered. "Why the hell did you do that?"

The jinchuuriki smiled bitterly as she turned her head to face the Namikuji Sannin. "Because…Like it or not, you are very important to the survival of the leaf. And I'm not. It's sacrificing a pawn for a queen. Quite logical, really. Besides, you would have a whole village full of people who would cry for you if you died. On the other hand, most would celebrate my death, and not a single one would cry. True death only comes when you are forgotten-when family members stop telling stories about you and friends stop visiting your grave. If you keep doing that for the ones that have passed away, they will never truly die, for they will live on….in your heart." Suzume said, looking up to the sky and placing a hand over her chest. "They will always live on."

The Senju behind her smiled a true smile for the first time in many years. 'Suzume-san….thank you so much for this…You have opened my eyes once again.' When the Sannin next opened her eyes, they were full of determination. "Let's do this!" she shouted, drawing blood along with her former teammates.

Orochimaru stood on top of Manda, Jiraiya on top of Gamabunta, and Tsunade on top of Katsuya. The slug spat out acid at the snake, who quickly wrapped around the slug, who then dissipated into thousands of smaller invertebrates. Gamabunta attempted to stab Manda with his blade, but was stopped by the serpent's mouth. The toad grabbed the snake's tail, while Tsunade slammed the blade into Manda's mouth, closing it for a significant amount of time. The snake growled before disappearing in a puff of smoke. Jiraiya also dismissed his summons.

Orochimaru chuckled darkly. "There is another jutsu I can use to regain my arms. Until then, my fellow Sannin, until then…" he said, as both he and Kabuto disappeared in a puff of smoke.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

"So yeah." Tsunade said. "I'll be the Godaime."

Jiraiya smiled. "That's good. I didn't even have to tell you that Suzume's last name is Uzumaki…."

"WHAT DID YOU JUST SAY?

"Ahaha, Tsunade, calm down!"

"Never!"


	11. AN

Dear Readers,

I am officially discontinuing this story. I apologize. I have lost my inspiration for it, and am currently out of ideas and motivation.

However, that said, I would like to thank all of my readers and reviewers. I never thought this story would get the 100+ reviews it has gotten. When I first started, I was hoping for a measly 50 if I ever got past the Sasuke Retrieval Arc, which I obviously haven't. Thank you for supporting this story so far. Again, I'm sorry. But I am considering putting this story up for rewrite, so if I start posting again, you know what to expect.

Sincerely,

Yukihana Hisako


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